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Sixty-four homes in Tairāwhiti are being evacuated on Thursday afternoon, with more rain forecast overnight.
The precautionary evacuation was underway in the Mangahauini River catchment and Tokomaru Bay township.
Tairāwhiti Civil Defence Controller Ben Green said with the rain forecast, there was an immediate risk of the failure of the debris dam upstream of the township.
“The incoming rain amplifies the risk given the ground is very unstable and saturated following the damage done by Cyclone Gabrielle,” he said.
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Hawke’s Bay residents are being advised to have an evacuation plan in place and to check for any risks around their homes as more heavy rain is forecast for the already cyclone-sodden region.
MetService has issued an orange heavy rain warning for Hawke’s Bay saying it has “grave concerns” given the already vulnerable terrain. From now until Saturday morning, areas in the region can expect 150 to 200mm of rain to fall.
The heaviest falls are likely from 3pm Friday, with peak rates of 20 to 30mm an hour possible.
“While we’re not expecting the rainfall to cause the same level of flooding as Cyclone Gabrielle, we do encourage residents to take steps to minimise the risks to their property and ensure they have an evacuation plan in place if required,” said Hawke’s Bay Regional Council group manager asset management Chris Dolley in a statement.
The council acknowledged that this would be “really unsettling news for our already vulnerable community”.
“Council has a dedicated team monitoring the weather, talking with weather experts, looking at modelling and assessing river levels and risks to low-lying, vulnerable areas,” Dolley said.
The regional council is also racing to fix damaged stop banks before the rain arrives.
“The team are working at pace to repair breached stop banks and while the current weather will slow us down, there has been good progress made to ‘bund’ gaps (provide a temporary barrier) and based on the current rainfall prediction, should protect us,” Dolley said.
Christel Yardley/Stuff
Contractors at work putting in temporary repairs to a damaged section of stopbank near the Ngaruroro River at Ōmahu.
River levels in some areas were likely to rise, the council said, but current data showed the water will stay within the main channels.
“This status is highly changeable, we will update as more information comes to light.”
It said more detailed information and specific advice for people will be coming later Thursday and Friday morning.
The heaviest falls in Hawke’s Bay were likely from 3pm on Friday, with peak rates of up to 30mm an hour possible.
For Gisborne, the heavy rain watch runs from 2pm on Thursday to 2am on Saturday, for Auckland from midday to 10pm on Friday, for Coromandel Peninsula and Bay of Plenty about and west of Te Puke from 2am Friday to 1am Saturday, and for Wairarapa from 1am to 8pm Saturday.
Breakfast
A significant period of heavy rain is expected from Friday afternoon through until Saturday morning.
MetService also said there was a possibility of severe thunderstorms in Gisborne from 1pm to 10pm on Thursday, and in Coromandel Peninsula, Waikato and Bay of Plenty from 3pm to 10pm Thursday.
Hawke’s Bay residents awoke on Thursday to a thick layer of cloud cover and some drizzle. Light rain started to fall last night and puddles had already started to form.
MetService has also issued heavy rain watches for Auckland, Coromandel Peninsula and western Bay of Plenty on Thursday morning, as well as extending heavy rain watches for Gisborne and Wairarapa.
In Tairāwhiti overnight steady rain had fallen. Paddocks and creeks appeared to be draining surface water well, and there seems to be little concern from locals that this rain will portend anything like the destruction seen in the region nine days ago.
Following discussions with councils, the MetService threshold for warning level rainfall remained at 50mm in 6 hours or 100mm in 24 hours.
A southerly change was expected to accompany the front as it moved north.
Hawke’s Bay Emergency Management warned rivers and streams could rise rapidly, surface flooding and slips were possible, and existing silt deposits could become saturated.
“Please keep a close eye on rivers and take extreme caution around areas where rivers have cut a new channel or where stop banks have been damaged,” it said.
People should act quickly if they saw rising water, and also take care around large deposits of silt that could shift or collapse.
Hawke’s Bay Fire and Emergency area commander Ken Cooper said crews were helping councils with drain clearing and “making sure the water has got somewhere to go”.
The heavy rain was expected to be produced by a low and associated trough that were forecast to develop on a cold front that moved up the South Island on Tuesday and Wednesday.
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