Wellington faced another day of heavy rain on Tuesday after yesterday’s extreme rainfall sent cars under water, washed others away and drove slips through houses in the city’s south. The region stayed on edge as red heavy rain warnings remained in place and roads across the lower North Island were still being cut off by floodwater.
More than 400 Powerco customers were without power this morning across Wairarapa, Taranaki, Manawatū-Whanganui and Bay of Plenty, with at least one outage in Wairarapa blamed on a lightning strike, according to the company’s website. Fire and Emergency dealt with about 180 weather-related callouts yesterday around the Wellington region, then picked up a dozen more overnight in the central region as some lower North Island roads became impassable and SH53 was reduced to a detour between Featherston and Martinborough because of rising water at Waihenga Bridge. SH58 reopened this morning from Pauatahanui to Haywards.
The warning map remained crowded on Tuesday. Wellington, excluding Porirua, was under a red heavy rain warning until 6pm, Wairarapa until midnight, and the threat carried the warning of danger to life from rain conditions. Tararua District was under an orange heavy rain warning until midnight, while Horowhenua, the Kāpiti Coast and Porirua were under a heavy rain watch until 9pm. Taranaki, the Kāpiti Coast, Wellington and the Marlborough Sounds were also under a strong wind watch until 9pm, with separate heavy rain watches for Taihape, Whanganui and Manawatū until midnight and for Hawke’s Bay south of Turira until 3am tomorrow.
MetService meteorologist Katie Lyon said the saturated ground meant even short bursts of heavier rain could tip already strained areas back into flooding. Her warning matched the reality on the ground: yesterday’s deluge was still fresh, and more rain was forecast in parts of the central and eastern North Island after a severe thunderstorm warning was issued early this morning for Gisborne and Hawke’s Bay from 3am until just before 5am, before later being lifted as the weather moved off to the northeast. Horowhenua was also braced for another dose of heavy rain between 6am and 7am, with the district council warning of up to 250mm in some areas.
Lyon said meaningful improvement was still some days away and that it was not really until Thursday that people could begin cleaning up. That leaves the lower North Island and parts of the central and east of the island in a prolonged stretch of disruption, with roads, power lines and homes still vulnerable while the rain bands keep moving through. For residents who spent Monday dealing with floodwater, slips and outages, the next stretch of dry weather matters less as relief than as the first chance to start putting homes and roads back together.
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