Cyclone-hit Hawke’s Bay, Gisborne and Coromandel face another deluge of heavy rain

Parts of New Zealand, still deep in the clean-up and recovery from Cyclone Gabrielle, have had decent downpours overnight, with more rain coming and some households evacuating as a precaution.

MetService issued orange heavy rain warnings for Hawke’s Bay, Gisborne and the Coromandel Peninsula, saying it has “grave concerns” because of the already vulnerable, sodden terrain.

Auckland, northern Waikato, and western Bay of Plenty were also under heavy rain and thunderstorm watches on Friday. Rain was forecast to fall at rates that could cause flash flooding in Auckland.

Twelve-hour readings at 6am on Friday, had 40mm of rain falling in Gisborne north to Tolaga Bay, with 20mm in Napier, and 12mm in Hastings.

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Meteorologist Clare O’Connnor said Wairoa had not had much rain yet, but more was expected to fall across the region.

Areas north of Mahia could get some thunder and heavy downpours later on Friday. The heavy rain warning ran to 2am on Saturday around Gisborne, and 10am Saturday in Hawke’s Bay.

Fire and Emergency was yet to get any rain-related calls on Friday, a spokesperson said.

Gisborne was expected to get up to 130mm of rain by Saturday morning, peaking at 25mm an hour during thunderstorms, according to the Metservice warning.

Up to 200mm was expected to fall in Hawke’s Bay by 10am Saturday, at some points reaching 30mm an hour. The Coromandel was predicted to get up to 140mm of rain, with peaks of 40mm an hour.

While Hawke’s Bay was not expecting rainfall levels like Cyclone Gabrielle, residents have been told to take steps to minimise risks and prepare an evacuation plan if required, Regional Council group manager asset management Chris Dolley said.

“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,” he said.

Evacuations in Tairāwhiti

Over at Tairāwhiti, 64 homes have already been evacuated in the Mangahauini River catchment and Tokomaru Bay township as a precaution.

Tairāwhiti Civil Defence Controller Ben Green said there was an immediate risk of failure of a 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.

“The community is being evacuated to local marae or to stay with whānau in areas outside of the Mangahauini River catchment.”

Civil Defence was going door to door on Thursday afternoon, he said.

“The safety of our people is paramount.

“We are bringing in experts to assess the dam site and provide options that might alleviate the risk.”

Rain comes as Cyclone Gabrielle clean-up continues

Hawke’s Bay, Gisborne and the Coromandel Peninsula are still reeling from the effects of Cyclone Gabrielle last week.

MetService said it was officially “one of the worst storms to hit Aotearoa New Zealand in living history”.

During the three days of severe weather, the country was hit with rainfall amounts of 300-400 mm or more and wind gusts of 130 to 140kph or more.

Waves were recorded as high as 11 metres along some coasts.

That caused severe flooding, devastated homes, washed away bridges, and covered roads in slips.

Eleven people died and thousands have been displaced.

The storm could end up costing the country tens of billions of dollars, one economist told Stuff earlier this month.

The number of people uncontactable after the cyclone has dropped to 56, police said on Thursday.

All the people on the list of uncontactable residents, as of 2pm on Thursday, were from Hawke’s Bay and Tairāwhiti.

The number included people who did not engage with authorities “for a variety of reasons”, police said.

“We believe many of these people simply have not realised they have been reported missing,” police said.