Roads closed by slips, flooding as heavy rain hits Ruapehu district

Rain and showers are forecast to continue until Friday. Photo / NZME

Multiple slips and closures are affecting roads in the Ruapehu district after heavy rain hit the region.

Ruapehu’s Emergency Operations Centre was activated as a precaution on Monday afternoon. The heaviest rainfall passed over Ruapehu about 4pm on Monday but began to ease from 7pm.

The EOC continued to monitor rain conditions overnight, particularly the low-lying areas prone to flooding.

“We’ve been keeping a close watch on the river and roading situation. There’ve been reports of the usual sort of slips and outages around the district,” Ruapehu District Council communications manager Paul Wheatcroft said.

He said staff continued to watch the Ōhura River on Tuesday morning as it neared breaching levels at the railway bridge in the township.

Multiple slips and closures were reported on local roads. Ōhau and Mangaparua roads were closed on Tuesday morning.

“They went underwater at the usual places, and we’re putting up signage to help the locals out there,” Wheatcroft said.

“We’re continuing to keep an eye on the wider situation.”

NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi said there were state highway closures in the area on Tuesday morning.

SH4 is closed between Eight Mile Junction (the intersection between SH3 and SH4) and Taumarunui.

SH43 Forgotten World Highway is closed from Whangamōmona to Taumarunui. Access remains open from Stratford to Whangamōmona.

MetService issued rain watch warnings for the wider region on Monday.

“Over the last 24 hours, it’s been pretty wet over many parts of the North Island and including the Whanganui area, especially those inland areas,” MetService meteorologist Mmathpelo Makgabutlane said.

MetService recorded an average of about 13mm of rainfall in Manawatū/Whanganui over the past 24 hours. Makgabutlane said it may have been higher in more elevated inland areas where the rain watches were issued.

A rain watch is issued when rain levels may approach the threshold for an orange rain warning which constitutes 100mm of rain or more in 24 hours.

Rain watches were issued for the more inland areas within the Whanganui region and Makgabutlane said she “suspect[s] that’s probably where the bulk of the rain fell”.

On Tuesday, rain, especially in inland areas, will ease to drier conditions in the afternoon and evening.

Wednesday may have showers again in inland areas. Thursday morning’s showers will clear later in the day.

Friday will be a mostly dry day “which I’m sure will be very welcome compared to the wet weather that we’ve seen so far”, Makgabutlane said.

Saturday will be mostly dry with some chance of showers. Sunday is expected to be wet as a new front moves up the country.

Daytime highs for the week will be 19C on Tuesday, 16C on Wednesday, 18C on Thursday, 19C on Friday, 20C on Saturday and 19C on Sunday.

Overnight lows will be 8C on Tuesday, 11C on Wednesday, 9C on Thursday and Friday, then 12C on Saturday and Sunday.

Southerly winds may pick up briefly on Tuesday evening. The rest of the week will have mostly westerly winds with some northwesterlies on Sunday.

“[It] could be a bit breezy at times, especially along the coast,” Makgabutlane said.