Bay of Plenty weather: State Highway 30 closed to westbound traffic

Slips, flooding and severe weather conditions have closed State Highway 30 today to westbound traffic between SH34 and SH33.

There are detours in place via SH34, SH2, SH33 and back on to SH30.

The road remains open to eastbound traffic.

Earlier

Fallen trees and slips closed a state highway near Rotorua this morning as rain and severe gales continue to hammer the region.

Rotorua received 27.2 millimetres of rain in the 12 hours until 10am, while Te Puke had 23.6mm and Tauranga 16.1mm, MetService meteorologist Jessie Owen said.

A 100km/h wind gust was recorded at MetService’s Mamaku radar and a 76km/h gust was recorded at Rotorua Airport.

State Highway 30 between Tikitere and Lake Rotoma was closed by fallen trees but has since reopened with traffic management in some locations, Waka Kotahi said in a statement.

Police said slips had also blocked the road earlier.

It follows downpours in the region last week that trapped motorists on the Kaimai Range and overwhelmed Rotorua’s wastewater system at several points.

MetService meteorologist Mmathapelo Makgabutlane said a yellow heavy rain watch was in place from 3am on Friday in the Bay of Plenty and Rotorua until 3pm.

She said it had been “a very wet year so far” and most of the North Island was already “very saturated”.

A fallen tree on State Highway 30 near Tikitere Hill on Friday morning. Photo / Supplied

“Which means that it doesn’t actually take that much rain for some of those impacts to be seen.”

Impacts included possible flooding, slips, hazardous driving conditions and poor visibility, she said.

Makgabutlane said thunderstorms were also expected in the Bay of Plenty and Rotorua this morning. They would be confined to the Eastern Bay of Plenty by the afternoon.

“As we’ve seen recently, thunderstorms tend to bring a very heavy burst of rain over localised areas in a very short space of time,” she said.

“We’re expecting this widespread rain but within that, we could see pockets of more intense rainfall.”

Makgabutlane said with a low-pressure system moving through from today, there would be “quick strong winds”.

People should prepare by moving outdoor furniture inside and tying down trampolines.

There was the potential for “severe gales” reaching up to 100km/h in exposed areas, she said.

Compared with last week’s heavy rain, the system would be moving through “fairly quickly”. “We’re not expecting it to linger in any one area for a long time.”

The heavy rain was expected in two waves, the first starting on Friday morning.

“Then we do actually expect a bit of an easing. We could see more like showery conditions rather than that persistent rain for the latter half of tomorrow and then into Saturday. We would expect that next band of showers and rain to start coming through.”

The second half of Sunday should bring “clearer weather” with the bulk of the rain having passed by then.

She advised people to keep up to date with the latest rain watches and warnings as MetService was constantly reviewing them as more information became available.