Waves pounding the Port of Napier, part of the swell that stopped some ships from berthing in recent days. Photo / Warren Buckland.
Waves pounding the Port of Napier, part of the swell that stopped some ships from berthing in recent days. Photo / Warren Buckland.
The Westshore beach reserve was flooded today after seas from a northeasterly swell broke through the protective bund on the beachfront.
Ironically, the wall, built after Cyclone Gabrielle in February, failed as Hawke’s Bay was coming to the end of severe weather boosting rainfall to near living-memory record levels and heavy seas that stopped some ships from berthing at the Port of Napier.
While 11 days of rain was yielding to forecasts of a similar period with almost no wet weather, a Napier Port spokesperson said conditions had prevented a few larger container vessels from berthing at Napier Port, but the port had been able to “work” three smaller vessels.
The company was constantly monitoring these conditions and was looking to resume normal shipping operations as the swell reduced in the coming days, the spokesperson said.
But national weather agency Metservice did not have any coastal warnings in place today.
Amidst it all, Hawke’s Bay Airport north of Napier will probably avoid the dubious milestone of 1000mm of rain in the first six months of the year, heading towards an annual total even higher than the 50-year high of 1313mm last year.
The ocean enters the Westshore beach reserve through a breach in the sea wall.
The weather station at the airport had by the time the sun started shining today recorded 983.2mm, about two and a half times average, with some showers possible in the next 24 hours.
The 199.8mm at the airport this month is consistent with what Hawke’s Bay Regional Council scientist Dr Kathleen Kozyniak says is region-wide June rainfall at about 250 per cent of average.
The total for the month was, however, well short of the extremes of Cyclone Gabrielle and the greater part of 360mm that was recorded in February at the airport.
A recurring pond in the Chambers St reserve, near Napier Boys High School. Photo / Warren Buckland
Kozyniak said the heaviest rainfall in the regional council’s network this month has been in the western ranges at Parks Peak, with 847mm by this afternoon, while just to the north Te Koau had recorded 775mm – both more than four times the average for June.
The lowest rainfalls appeared to be on the Heretaunga Plains, with 130mm at the council’s Napier CBD office and 133mm at the major gauge on Awanui Stream.
On a day where Hastings challenged for the warmest temperature in the country – albeit a mild 15C – the regional forecast for the rest of the fortnight after the June 22 winter solstice was for partly cloudy weather tomorrow with isolated coastal showers clearing early in the morning, with developing westerlies.
The weather in Napier was forecast to be mainly fine for the remainder of the week, but on a regional scale fine weather with fresh mornings could be expected, with some isolated showers.
* Doug Laing is a senior reporter based in Napier with Hawke’s Bay Today, and has 50 years of journalism experience in news gathering, including breaking news, sports, local events, issues and personalities.
