Chilly start to week as big wet eases

A car drives through surface flooding on Waimarama Rd yesterday afternoon. One lane of the road remained open. Photo / Warren Buckland

A deluge of rain which saturated Hawke's Bay in the last 48 hours, causing surface flooding in some areas, is set to ease during the next few days.

However, low temperatures will persist through the week, with today's daytime high for Napier and Hastings of 11C dropping to 10C tomorrow, Dannevirke dropping from 7C to a frigid 5C, and overnight lows hovering around 0C.

The region received the highest amount of rain in the country during an hour-long period yesterday, which saw roads flooded in some areas.

MetService reported that for the hour between 8.30am and 9.30am Hastings received 2.6mm of rain, which was the highest amount in the country during that period - even edging out the already saturated Far North.

For the 24 hours up until that stage Hastings received 13.2mm of rain while Napier soaked up 10.6mm by 9am.

Waimarama Rd saw significant surface flooding near Tiakitai Rd, which was 30cm deep at its worst and reduced traffic to a single lane.

Fulton Hogan staff said the flooding, which was knee-deep about 1pm but receded during the afternoon, was caused by a blocked culvert.

But it didn't deter the Mini Car Club Hawke's Bay from their monthly day out.

They passed through the floodwaters on their way to have lunch at Jarks Cafe, Waimarama.

"The Minis were quite happy to go through ... Jarks Cafe must have bloody good coffee," a spokesman said.

While bands of rain swept across the region throughout the rest of the day, the southeasterly weather flow driving it was moving away with only occasional light showers expected later today and tomorrow across the Bay.

Despite occasional showers to come there was respite on the horizon, a Metservice spokesperson said.

"The south to southwest flow should gradually ease during Wednesday and Thursday with temperatures slowly picking up."

From Wednesday the southerly system will move off with sunshine and light winds, and temperatures of 14C set to rule into the weekend.

The rain bands were sporadic and widely scattered as figures from Hawke's Bay Regional Council rainfall stations revealed.

Over 24 hours Ngahere at the Kaiwaka Forest Park received 43.5mm. The Waimarama Rd station recorded 28.5mm, Kaiwaka near Tutira 25.6mm, Glengarry 20mm and the Chesterhope Bridge 16.5mm.

In central Hawke's Bay there was a marked difference in rainfall between two spots just 30km apart.

While Onga Onga had just 3mm, Omakere just east of Waipukurau had 25.4mm.

Hawke's Bay Police Senior Sergeant Clint Adamson said there had been no major rain-related issues on the roads with drivers appearing to take more notice of the conditions as the rain had been steady, with some heavy falls, creating a more cautious approach.

Some minor slippage occurred on slip-prone stretches of SH5 between Napier and Taupo in the Te Pohue region.

It took 28.8mm of rain over 24 hours.

Mr Adamson said two patrols went to the area and New Zealand Transport Agency road crews had been alerted to keep an eye on the affected stretch.

Traffic was slowed as a precaution and the road remained fully open.