Posted: 29 March 2007
Flooding, more rain to come, North warned
Two hundred and forty five millimetres of rain - almost two entire months’ worth – has already fallen in the Far North in a little over a day, but the worst is far from over with even more rain - and flooding - expected in Northland today.
MetService forecasters predict up to 50mm more rain could fall north of the Bay of Islands through to 9pm, with as much as 90mm further south until midnight. They are also warning of occasional thundery bursts that could dump up to 40mm in just two hours.
The heaviest falls today are likely to be in the eastern hill country from the Bay of Islands south and the Northland Regional Council is warning people to stay well away from rain-swollen creeks and rivers and take special care when driving.
Graeme MacDonald, the Northland Regional Council’s Hazard Management Team Leader, says the combination of yet more rain and already swollen rivers and creeks means people need to be wary of surface and other flooding. Farmers who had not already moved stock from flood-prone areas to higher ground should do so as soon as possible.
Regional Council Hydrologists says flood-prone areas in the Far North which are not already experiencing flooding are likely to do so if the rain continues as expected today – particularly in the Kerikeri area - while some areas south of Whangarei may also flood.
Council Hydrologist Dale Hansen says typically rainfall for the entire month of March varies from a low of about 80mm in parts of the Far North through to a high of about 150mm on the region’s east coast.
However, Regional Council figures show that in the 30.5 hours from midnight Wednesday to 6.30am today, 245mm of rain had already fallen on Kerikeri’s Western Hills. “That’s almost twice as much as the 130mm we’d expect to see in that area for the entire month of March.”
Mr Hansen says the Kaeo area too had received a drenching – 188.5mm over the same 30.5 hour period, 184mm had fallen on the Eastern Whangarei area’s Glenbervie Hills, 158mm at Ohaeawai and 155mm on the Puhipuhi Hills near Whangarei.
Other areas that had experienced heavy rain included Oakura Bay (131.5mm), the East Mangamuka Ranges in the Far North (130.5mm) and Kaikohe (121.6mm).
Over the same period 86.5mm had fallen on Marsden Pt and 83.2mm at Whangarei Airport.