Severe weather warnings as strong winds and rain hit central North Island regions

Whanganui and surrounding areas are in for heavy rain and strong winds. Photo / NZME

Strong wind watches and heavy rain warnings are in place for Whanganui and surrounding regions as an atmospheric river affects much of New Zealand.

An earthquake and wind triggered the eruption detection system on Mt Ruapehu on Tuesday morning, the Department of Conservation said in a social media post.

It was a false positive activation of the system and no eruption occurred.

“The Ruapehu eruption detection system was triggered by strong winds and an earthquake at 10.16am this morning. This resulted in a lahar warning being broadcast at Whakapapa Ski Area.

“DoC has shut down the public warning sirens and voice message.”

Wind is also battering other parts of the central North Island.

“The wind watch is from South Taranaki, right across to the Central Plateau, and inland areas of Whanganui through to 7pm [Tuesday] for north to northeast winds approaching gales in exposed areas,” MetService meteorologist Silvia Martino said.

“Heavy rain is expected around the mountains [in Ruapehu and Taranaki] and there will be rain in other areas, just not quite warning amounts.”

Overnight on Monday, winds in Hāwera reached 80km/h gusts, and winds could reach up to 100km/h on Tuesday in inland and exposed areas.

“We’ve had a pretty chill winter for the last couple of weeks so you probably will be noticing those stronger winds today.”

The wind watch is set to finish at 7pm on Tuesday and the rain warnings will go to 4am on Wednesday for Ruapehu, and midnight on Tuesday for Taranaki Maunga.

The extreme conditions do not stop there, as Whanganui is forecast to reach the highest temperature in the country on Tuesday with a high of 19C, which is expected to drop to a relatively warm 11C overnight.

“In comparison to the frosts we saw last week, it’s going to feel quite a bit warmer,” Martino said.

More than 2300 homes are without power in the North Island, including 341 Powerco customers across Ohakune, Whanganui and Taihape.

The largest outages are in Ohakune (174) and Taihape (150).

Both outages occurred between 7.50am and 8.10am on Tuesday, with power expected to be restored by midday.

Powerco said the outages were being investigated but no cause had yet been confirmed.

Powerco said if people saw downed powerlines they should stay at least 10m away from the lines and poles, call 111 immediately or Powerco’s emergency number 0800 27 27 27, and treat all downed lines as live.

The rain was forecast to become heavier on Tuesday evening, but would decrease to morning showers on Wednesday and Thursday, Martino said.

“Luckily, things are looking nicer moving forwards.”

For the remainder of the week, Whanganui was expected to gradually return to typical winter weather conditions as the winds turned southerly on Thursday, bringing colder and drier conditions.

“It will be cooling down as the week goes on, skies clear and we get back to that classic wintery clear skies and cool mornings,” Martino said.

“There’s some showers about, and southerlies, so it is going to feel chillier but not too bad.”

For weather updates, check metservice.com/warnings/home.

More to come.

Olivia Reid is a multimedia journalist based in Whanganui.