Rising river concerns after wet night across North Island

Rising river levels in eastern districts are concerning emergency officials still battling the aftermath of Cyclone Gabrielle – and as police seek to make contact with 13 people still outstanding.

Heavy rain overnight has battered areas already struggling with the cyclone cleanup, including Auckland and Northland. It’s also hampered ongoing efforts to send supplies to people in affected areas.

There are thunderstorm watches in place for parts of the Bay of Plenty, and Hawke’s Bay and Tararua districts. In Waihi beach, a tornado on Saturday morning has damaged houses.

There is further information about weather watches, distinguished by region, at the bottom of this story.

READ MORE:
* Heavy rainfall and severe gales forecast overnight for western and northern parts of the South Island
* Auckland floods: Severe, wide-reaching rain set to keep lashing North Island
* Hot, hot, hot: Lower Hutt, Invercargill and Central Otago crack 32C

What we know on Saturday morning

Residents of the small Tairāwhiti town of Te Karaka, north of Gisborne, are being asked to voluntarily evacuate as fears the Waipaoa River will rise, and overnight in Hawke’s Bay, precautionary evacuations in Esk Valley were ordered, although most of the houses in the evacuation zone were already empty following the cyclone.

Officials are now considering whether to lift that evacuation order.

Residents of 26 houses evacuated voluntarily on Friday afternoon.

Civil defence centres were open in Napier, Flaxmere and Pōrangahau to accommodate anyone who could not stay with whānau or friends, and a centre was ready to open in Waipawa overnight.

Roadblocks were set up around the evacuated area, to ensure properties were secure while residents were evacuated. Police said it had helped people evacuate on Friday night, and cordons were in place.

Rising river levels were concerning officials, and residents were asked to check Civil Defence channels for up-to-date information.

In Te Karaka, the Waipaoa river level was at 7.8m and rising and was predicted to peak above 8m at 9am. Civil Defence advised people to move to higher ground if they were concerned, and recommended, as a precaution, that people self-evacuate in the Te Karaka township area.

“We are still likely to see continued rainfall on the upper Waipaoa Catchment for approximately the next two hours,” a Civil Defence Facebook post said at about 8am.

On Saturday morning in Te Karaka, shortly after the Waipaoa river was set to peak, residents were going about their business.

Robert Jahnke was leaving the petrol station and said he had no plans to self-evacuate, following a recommendation issued by Tairāwhiti Civil Defence on Saturday morning.

“It’s not as bad the other day,” he said. However, it was certainly not just another Saturday morning, he said. “We’re still not really back to normal. Last night while it was raining we were on edge. Thinking, do we have to get up and go again?”

Jahnke’s reason for concern was that water in the nearby Waipaoa River hasn’t yet had an opportunity to recede after the cyclone, and that any further water might have little space to go but the town.

In a Facebook post, Tairāwhiti Civil Defence said the weather has “grounded helicopter flights around the region that have been dropping off supplies to our isolated families”.

“If you’re one of the families who has been expecting us – we’re so sorry but you are at the forefront of our minds.”

Tairāwhiti Civil Defence said the weather should clear on Saturday afternoon, so the helicopters could be supplying goods to the flooding-affected areas once again.

Hawke’s Bay group controller Ian Macdonald said the regional Emergency Management team would take a decision on whether to lift the evacuation order for Esk Valley on Saturday morning.

“The decision will depend on the state of the Eskdale River, which has risen sharply this morning after overnight rain.

“Most homes in the Esk Valley have been unoccupied since the cyclone, but an additional 26 households evacuated yesterday,” Macdonald said

Regional council hydrologists have been monitoring the rivers.

Meanwhile, police said as of 9pm Friday, the number of uncontactable people following Cyclone Gabrielle was 13.

Police were prioritising reaching them, “and we are working as fast as we can, using a number of different methods”.

In the 24 hours to 7pm Friday police had made 24 arrests – 15 in Hawke’s Bay and nine in Tairāwhiti. Offences included trespassing, theft, burglary, car theft, intimidation, and threats.

Auckland and Northland

Earlier Saturday morning, access between Northland and Auckland was restored, following “intense” downpours causing surface flooding and slips.

The two regions, in particular the lower Northland and upper Auckland areas, were hit by a deluge on Friday evening.

Overnight there was no access between the regions due to a slip on SH1 near Topuni, and multiple road closures in Mangawhai, Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency said.

On Saturday about 8am it announced SH1 is now open “under caution”, however motorists were asked to delay their journeys or use detour routes. SH1 remains closed between Brynderwyn and Waipu.

“Although the road is open, there will be major delays as the crew work on the road. Please avoid traveling on the road if possible and rethink your travel plans.

“If you do need to travel, please drive to the conditions, obey the temporary speed limits and be patient with the crews on the road and other drivers.”

Light vehicles may detour via SH12 and Paparoa-Oakleigh Rd to Whangārei, while heavy vehicles should use SH12 and SH14 between Brynderwyn and Whangārei via Dargaville.

Fire and Emergency NZ shift manager Josh Pennefather said firefighters responded to 112 weather related calls in lower Northland area overnight. The majority of the calls outs were before midnight.

There were 12 incidents where people needed rescuing from flood water, most of whom were in their vehicles.

This included a group of people driving in Dairy Flat, who had to be rescued from their cars by boats because of rising floodwaters.

There were power outages across the Auckland region on Friday night, with most of Waiheke also in the dark, and lightning disrupted flights at Auckland Airport.

Mangawhai, about 120km north of Auckland, was also badly hit, with 300mm of rain recorded in the seven hours until 5pm on Friday.

“She’s carnage up here,” said resident Shane Whitmore.

MetService meteorologist Alex Holden said on Saturday there was a “lot of disparity” regarding rain fall across Auckland overnight, with areas recording between 15mm-75mm.

Waiheke Island saw the most rain with 76mm in the 12 hours after 7.30pm, with a torrential downpour just shy of 30mm in an hour around 8pm.

For the same period, about 40mm of rain fell near the Auckland-Northland border, which was considered heavy.

Holden said Auckland and Northland were due a brief reprieve from the rain until Monday, when another rain band arrived from the north.

It’s not clear yet how heavy this rain will be.

Bay of Plenty, Waikato, Hawke’s Bay

Meanwhile, heavy showers and thunderstorms were likely to affect the Bay of Plenty, near the coast and Kaimai range.

Fire and Emergency said it had reports of damaged homes from a tornado at about 8am on Saturday, but no reports of injuries. A witness said residents were “a little shell shocked”.

Between 7am and 11am Saturday heavy showers and isolated thunderstorms were possible between Waihi and Opotiki, with possible localised downpours of 20-35mm an hour.

Orange heavy rain warnings are in place for Hawke’s Bay and were in place overnight for Gisborne and the Coromandel Peninsula. A thunderstorm watch is in place for Hawke’s Bay.

For Hawke’s Bay, during the 17 hours to 1pm Saturday, a further 70mm to 120mm of rain was forecast for the ranges north of Hastings, including Esk Valley and the Wairoa District. Other areas would receive 30mm to 60mm of rain.

Gisborne was forecast to get 40mm to 60mm of rain between 8pm Friday and 6am Saturday, with some areas in line for up to 100m of rain or more. Thunderstorms were possible.

In the Waikato, Coromandel had been warned to expect 50mm to 80mm of rain up to 3am on Saturday, with up to 140mm in some areas.

On Saturday morning a thunderstorm warning was in place for Hauraki and western Bay of Plenty. At 7.15am MetService had detected thunderstorms at Waihi beach. They were moving south toward Katikati.

‘We’re not out of the woods yet’

On Friday night there were about 40 to 50 people at the Mangawhai Golf Course emergency shelter, although people were getting placed in private homes in Mangawhai and none were expected to stay the night at the shelter.

Councillor Mike Howard said the “torrential” rain was the worst he had seen in 23 years living in Mangawhai.

Elsewhere in Northland, Kaipara District Council said 30 children were stranded at Kaiwaka Primary, and around 40 at Otamatea High on Friday night.

Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown offered his support to the mayor of Kaipara, Craig Jepson, following the severe flooding at Mangawhai.

Brown said on Friday evening he had been briefed by the duty controller at Auckland Emergency Management Centre.

He said he would remain focused on the situation throughout the night.

“We’re not out of the woods yet,” he said.

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

Saturday in Central Auckland is forecast to be much calmer than Friday, with early showers, possibly heavy, becoming isolated as fine breaks develop.

There would be periods of rain on Saturday, but they would not be as intense as on Friday.

Saturday also marks the final of Te Matatini at Eden Park, after the world’s biggest kapa haka event was hit by rain on Friday.