Flood barrier removed from Whanganui's Kowhai Park as weather becomes less severe

The flood barrier placed near the Matarawa stream near Kowhai Park was removed on Tuesday afternoon as wild weather in the region reduces. Photo / Bevan Conley

A flood barrier put in place in Kowhai Park on Monday morning has been removed as the risk of flooding abates.

Horizons Regional Council's emergency management controller Ged Shirley said the flood barrier was removed around 4pm on Tuesday.

A Horizons representative said weather conditions in Whanganui calmed down relatively quickly so the decision was made to take the flood barrier down.

Shirley said the barrier was put in place in front of the Matarawa Stream bridge on Monday evening as Horizons modelling suggested the Whanganui River could have breached the flood banks of Kowhai Park overnight.

Horizons' decision to remove the barrier coincided with weather across the region becoming less severe throughout the week, according to MetService meteorologist Karl Loots.

"The weather hasn't been nearly as severe as it was over the weekend and the end of last week; so far this week it's been mostly a showery southwest flow, but there were quite strong winds yesterday," he said.

Loots said across a 24-hour period between Tuesday and Wednesday, the Whanganui region recorded rainfall of between 1mm and 10mm at various weather stations.

This is compared to rainfall between 10mm and 15mm recorded on Tuesday, and rainfall as high as 39.5mm on Monday.

Loots said the weather station at Whanganui Airport recorded wind gusts of around 90km/h over the past 24 hours.

The station at the airport was struck by lightning between Monday evening and Tuesday morning, but had been repaired and was back online by around 1pm Tuesday, Loots said.

Looking forward, Loots said while sporadic showers were still expected for the region on Thursday, winds would be much weaker and there was no expectation of heavy downpours or potential thunderstorms.

However, Shirley said Horizons' emergency co-ordination centre would continue to monitor the region with more unsettled weather forecast to arrive later in the week.