People rescued from cars by boat as Auckland, Northland struck by another deluge

Emergency services were forced to find a boat to rescue people from their cars in Auckland, as another deluge hit the supercity on Friday.

It was Northland that faced the worst of it, however, with Mangawhai bearing the brunt of the rain. In an update at 8pm, MetService said 300mm of rain was recorded in the seven hours until 5pm at a rain radar near Mangawhai.

Meanwhile, Kaipara District Council believed 30 children were stranded at Kaiwaka Primary, and around 40 at Otamatea High on Friday night.

The heavy rain was expected to continue into the night in Northland and Auckland, but will ease off over the weekend. “There is a wet night ahead,” MetService said on Friday night.

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The region has been bracing for more rain amid warnings of severe thunderstorms, with Auckland Emergency Management urging people in Tāmaki Makaurau to be vigilant and have a plan as “heavy downpours start to cross the region”.

A line of thunderstorms brought “intense” downpours, and emergency management said surface flooding began in some areas before 4.30pm.

A group of people driving in Dairy Flat had to be rescued from their cars due to rising floodwaters.

“At 4.37pm, Fire and Emergency was alerted to a report of multiple cars trapped in floodwater in Dairy Flat, Auckland,” a spokesperson said.

“After a crew made it to the scene, they were able to source a boat to carry out rescues. All persons are now accounted for and all cars have been checked.”

A spokesperson told Stuff the rescues were made by boat.

Mangawhai had been almost completely cut off by Friday night. The intersection of State Highway 1 and Mangawhai Rd has been closed due to the weather conditions in the area.

Mangawhai resident Shane Whitmore took drone images that show an area south of the town completely flooded. “She’s carnage up here,” he said, going on to describe “cars driving around like headless chickens wanting to get home with nowhere to go”.

About 40 -50 people were taking shelter at the Mangawhai Golf Course emergency shelter on Friday night.

Councillor Mike Howard said none of those people were expected to stay the night as people were getting placed in private homes in Mangawhai: “The response from the community has been sensational.”

Howard said people were coming into the golf course “drenched” as a result of the worst rain he’d seen in 23 years of living in Mangawhai.

He said it was “torrential”.

“Just in the Heads we have had 51mm in an hour. But then we heard 14kms out of here they had 91mm in an hour after 2 hours earlier getting 61mm.”

Howard was “hoping like hell” that people weren’t driving in the rain and was worried about high tide. “Anything could happen in low-lying areas,” he said.

A severe thunderstorm warning has been issued for Kaipara and Rodney, as MetService’s weather radar detected severe thunderstorms near Wellsford, Mangawhai, and Te Arai.

These thunderstorms are “slow moving” and were expected to be near Wellsford, Mangawhai and Te Arai from 4.30pm.

It was expected these would be accompanied by “torrential” rain, which could cause surface and/or flash flooding near streams, gullies, and urban areas, MetService said.

A severe thunderstorm warning had also been issued for Auckland City, Waitākere, Rodney and Albany, with thunderstorms – and likely torrential rain – moving south.

Wairoa General Ward Councillor Gordon Lambeth told Stuff about a briefing by Fire and Emergency and Surf Life Saving.

He said the Kaiwaka and Maungatoroto fire teams had gone out to work in areas affected by severe weather, and teams from Waipu in the north and Wellsford in the south had been deployed as well.

“I wouldn’t call it a weather bomb, but we’ve had a huge amount of rain in the Mangawhai to Kaiwaka area.

“It’s caused a couple of slips and road closures and closed the main road,” Lambeth said.

“There is surface flooding in numerous places. Surf Life Saving is on their way to the flooding assess the situation. We think it’s at Hakaru.”

Auckland ‘not out of the woods yet’

Meanwhile, Auckland Transport urged people to take “extra care” if travelling on Friday evening.

At 8pm, Auckland’s mayor Wayne Brown issued a statement warning Aucklanders “we’re not out of the woods yet”.

He said MetService had advised that the intensity of the Auckland thunderstorms had diminished, but further heavy rain was likely on-and-off across most of the region for a few more hours yet.

“Remember that even if the rain dies down, there could be more to come and surface flooding will take some time to subside.

“Experiencing an emergency can be overwhelming, especially with repeated severe weather events. It’s normal for you and your whānau to feel upset and physically drained, so we encourage you to stay home if possible and stay safe throughout the night.

“If you’re worried about your safety, please consider staying with friends or family, or head to the nearest Civil Defence Centre.”

MetService said although there will be periods of rain on Saturday, they “will not be as intense” as what has been seen on Friday.

Sunday will “be more settled, but not completely dry”, MetService said.