Napier deluge causes flooding to shop’s Christmas display; council says 23 callouts

A heavy deluge of rain slammed Napier on Monday causing minor flooding to at least one shop and 23 callouts for the council related to the heavy rainfall.

The biggest burst of rain in the city was fairly short-lived around 7pm on Monday.

One Napier resident told Hawke’s Bay Today the rain was “so loud that I couldn’t hear my friend speaking” at its peak.

Rainfall data showed 20mm of rain fell on Monday in Napier CBD, at the regional council’s recording station.

Comparatively, only 5.2mm of rain fell in neighbouring Hastings, according to MetService data.

A video on social media showed a leak at Napier clothing store Max, with water splashing inside.

Max Napier manager Jodi Gowler said the damage was not too bad, and was mainly contained to a Christmas display in the window.

The shop opened as normal on Tuesday following a clean-up.

“We are all good,” Gowler said.

Water pouring down Bluff Hill in Napier on Monday night. Photo / Mon Shelford

“I woke up to a couple of dozen messages [on Tuesday morning] so flew down here and met one of our colleagues.

“It was not as much damage as we thought.

“The front window definitely flooded a lot of our gifting, in our Christmas window, which has been destroyed by the water.”

She said that was mainly their Christmas display, and “we are very thankful” it soaked up much of the water, stopping it from going further into the store. She said no clothing was damaged.

Napier City Council (NCC) told Hawke’s Bay Today on Tuesday morning there were no requests for help with rain pooling across the city.

However, that was incorrect, and NCC later confirmed there had in fact been 23 service requests related to the heavy rainfall.

A spokeswoman also said there was no damage to the stormwater system.

Napier City Council is in level 3 water restrictions, meaning a ban on sprinkler use, given the otherwise dry conditions in the region.

The rainfall helps reduce demand for outdoor water use, as it waters people’s gardens.

Water demand was down on Monday to 32,000 cu m, compared to 37,000 cu m the day before.

However, the spokeswoman said the city’s water supply came from aquifers, so the deluge did not have much impact on that resource.

Napier resident Mon Shelford said the rain was so heavy it was hard to hear.

“It was so loud that I couldn’t hear my friend speaking over dinner, and she was sitting right next to me,” she said.

She said while there was a lot of water coming down Shakespeare Rd, on Bluff Hill, no homes appeared to be flooded.

She said at one point “traffic management equipment floated down the road”.

Of the 78 recording stations on the Hawke’s Bay Regional Council rainfall monitoring network, 11 had more than 10mm of rain on Monday.

They were headed by Mt Manuoha, in Te Urewera, with 31mm; Taharua, inland northwest of Napier in the Kaweka Forest Park, with 24.4mm; and 20mm at the recording station in the Napier CBD.

Of the others, 24 had less than 1mm, and 10, including Glengarry, Omakere and one of two of three stations close to around Pōrangahau, recorded no rain.

The rain came on a day when Hawke’s Bay had four of the five highest temperatures recorded by MetService nationwide, with 29.5C at Hawke’s Bay Airport, 29.4C in Napier CBD, 29.3C in Hastings, and 27.5C in Wairoa.

While temperatures dropped as much as 6C in some areas later on Monday, they were rising again on Tuesday, with the 25.1C in Napier soon after 1pm being the hottest nationwide at the time, and the forecast was for temperatures up to 30C again on Friday and Saturday.

Hawke’s Bay Federated Farmers president Jim Galloway said he only received 8mm of rain on his farm near Bridge Pā on Monday.

It has been extremely dry for farmers, and Galloway said any rain helped.

“It will keep the green patches green for a bit longer,” he said.

“But it certainly isn’t going to make a massive difference.”

He said the thing with thunderstorms was you can get 20mm in one spot, and just a couple of kilometres away you may get nothing.

He said more rain may come later this month, which farmers were certainly hoping would arrive.