'Raining buckets': Severe thunderstorms hit rural areas of Hawke's Bay

Thunder clouds threaten to form northwest of Napier on Friday afternoon. Photo / Paul Taylor

Severe thunderstorms that threatened to derail the start of Hawke's Bay's weekend drinks largely skipped around the Twin Cities but deluged some inland parts of the region, with some areas experiencing "continuous thunder".

Karen Toulmin said at 3.30pm on Friday that it was "raining buckets" in Waiwhare, about 40 kilometres northwest of Hastings.

"We just had 30mm in about 15 mins.

"[It] brings us to about 70mm in the last two weeks, all from the thunderstorms we have been getting late afternoon."

Hawke's Bay Today associate editor Rachel Wise said at 4.40pm there had been "continuous thunder" for at least 10 minutes between Waipawa and Waipukurau.

"I mean continuous - no breaks between thunder. I've never heard anything like it."

Severe thunderstorms were detected on Friday afternoon in Central Hawke's Bay and remote areas of the Hastings District, prompting MetService to issue an "immediate" severe thunderstorm warning at 2.55pm which it then lifted at 3.50pm.

MetService then issued another warning at 4.25pm for Central Hawke's Bay and a third at 5.12pm for CHB and Tararua.

The severe thunderstorm warning for Hawke's Bay was lifted shortly before 6pm.

At 5pm, the MetService weather radar detected severe thunderstorms near Takapau, Norsewoord, Ashley Clinton, Ormondville and Ashcott. At 4.15pm, the MetService weather radar had detected severe thunderstorms near Waipukurau, Waipawa, Tikokino, Ongaonga, Argyll East and Gwavas.

Earlier MetService said, at 2.45pm Friday, its radars detected severe thunderstorms near the northern Ruahine Range and Kereru.

At 6pm a severe thunderstorm watch remained in place over large parts of the region, with it set to be lifted at 10pm.