Bay of Plenty escapes the worst of the wild weather

People brave the weather at Tauranga's waterfront yesterday amid strong winds and heavy rain. Photo/George Novak

The Western Bay of Plenty was lashed by severe weather over the weekend but managed to escape the worst of the wild conditions.

Heavy rain, strong winds and king tides threatened coastal areas including the Bay of Plenty, prompting a severe weather warning for Tauranga for most of yesterday. Due to the forecast bad weather, Tauranga City Council cancelled its Winter Nights Winter Lights festival on the waterfront for the evening. It is expected to return tonight with calmer conditions.

Between 11am and 4pm, Tauranga Airport recorded 11.4mm of rain while the Kaimai Range recorded 20mm. But the worst was expected to come later in the evening.

Waikato Regional Council warned the high level of the Ōhinemuri River in the Karangahake Gorge could spark the closure of State Highway 2.

In Coromandel, 60mm to 90mm of rain was expected to fall across the peninsula between 9am and 6pm with as much as 20mm to 30mm falling per hour at its worst. Slips and flooding cut the peninsula off to the rest of the North Island.

Auckland also experienced significant rainfall due to a heavy rain band associated with a low-pressure system which hovered between the city and Coromandel.

Metservice meteorologist Melissa Oosterwijk said while Auckland experienced the western edge of the rain band, the Bay of Plenty was expected to bear the brunt of its eastern edge as it travelled south, she said.

Wild weather lashes Tauranga waterfront, where the Winter Nights Winter Lights festival was being held. Photo/George Novak

"We are expecting the low-pressure system to move away and swing down past Taranaki. All of the wind will calm down and the rain will eventually move off. It won't stop but it will settle down a bit more," she said.

A Tauranga City Council spokeswoman said the forecast rain was expected to be less than what fell the last time king tides hit so operations were "business as usual" yesterday.

In January, a monster storm combined with king tides destroyed a state highway in the Coromandel and caused flooding in and around the Coromandel and Bay of Plenty.

A Western Bay of Plenty District Council spokesman said, as of 5.30pm, there was nothing to report.