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Sixty-four homes in Tairāwhiti were being evacuated on Thursday ahead of a fresh orange heavy rain warning issued for Gisborne and Coromandel Peninsula.
MetService had already issued an orange heavy rain warning for Hawke’s Bay saying it has “grave concerns” given the already vulnerable terrain.
A heavy rain watch remained in place for Auckland, northern Waikato, western Bay of Plenty and Wairarapa including the Tararua District.
MetService said at 9pm that the orange warning for Gisborne was for 29 hours from 9pm Thursday to 2am Saturday, with 80mm to 130mm of rain expected. Rates could peak between 10mm and 25mm an hour, “especially in thunderstorms”.
READ MORE:
* Heavy rain watch in place for Hawke’s Bay, Gisborne forecast uncertain
* Mostly fine weekend, with a few scattered showers, after Cyclone Gabrielle’s devastating deluge
* Cyclone Gabrielle: Red severe gale warning for Auckland, heavy rain continues across North Island
The precautionary evacuation was underway in the Mangahauini River catchment and Tokomaru Bay township.
Tairāwhiti Civil Defence Controller Ben Green said 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.
Christel Yardley/Stuff
Contractors at work putting in temporary repairs to a damaged section of stopbank near the Ngaruroro River at Ōmahu.
“Our Civil Defence team on the ground in Tokomaru Bay went door to door this afternoon. The safety of our people is paramount.
Roadblocks had been set up to stop access to areas of concern around Mangahauini River catchment and Tokomaru Bay.
MetService has ‘grave concerns’
Hawke’s Bay residents were 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.
From Thursday at 9pm until 10am on Saturday, areas in the region can expect 150mm 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.
Unison said there were still 3230 people without power in Hawke’s Bay, mostly in outlying rural areas. The lines company urged households to conserve electricity and be prepared for further outages.
“We’re not asking businesses to curb their operations, but please think before you flick the switch and turn things off if you’re not using them,” said incident controller Jason Larkin.
“Please also prepare for unplanned outages as our crews work hard alongside Transpower to restore a secure supply to the region.”
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.
Breakfast
A significant period of heavy rain is expected from Friday afternoon through until Saturday morning.
River levels in some areas were likely to rise, the council said, but current data showed the water will stay within the main channels.
It said more detailed information and specific advice for people will be coming later Thursday and Friday morning.
For Coromandel, the orange rain warning was for 24 hours from 4am Friday, with forecast rainfall of between 100 mm and 140mm.
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.
Following discussions with councils, the MetService threshold for warning level rainfall remained at 50mm in 6 hours or 100mm in 24 hours.
Hawke’s Bay Emergency Management warned that 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”.
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