It’s the South Island’s turn to feel the force of devastating Cyclone Gabrielle, with the northeast of the region set for a strong deluge on Wednesday.
The Coromandel and Hawke’s Bay were among the most affected during the cyclone’s path yesterday, MetService has tracked the centre of the cyclone to be sitting east of Gisborne currently.
Over the course of today, the cyclone will shift further east across the Chatham Islands and will continue to move southeast away from the country.
MetService has put heavy rain warnings in place for eastern Marlborough south of Seddon, including the Kaikoura coast from 6am Wednesday until 4am the following day.
According to meteorologist Angus Hines, the district will be the focal point of the storm’s wrath over the next 24 hours as rainfall amounts up to 140mm hammer down.
There are no wind warnings in place as gusts will likely only hit up 50km/h for the region. However, the risk of flooding in the formerly badly-hit region is a real possibility.
“It’ll be less than what we saw in Hawke’s Bay, for example, that was really extreme,” Hines told the Herald.
“But the impact could still be significant. There’s heavy rain forecasted for the Kaikoura mountain ranges so there could be some severe weather impacts, but unlikely as much as areas further north.”
On the topic of Hawke’s Bay, residents should still be on high alert heading into Thursday as a band of rain currently settled over the South Island is set to move northwards.
“The rain will cross over the hard-hit areas like Hawke’s Bay and Gisborne,” Hines said.
“It will lose most of its venom, it’ll only deliver 15 to 25 millimetres of rain, not large compared to [yesterday] but if it’s falling on saturated soil and rivers running high, there could still be damage and further flooding.”
The band of rain hovering over the North Island will pass by Friday morning, when the influence of Cyclone Gabrielle will have eased for the most part.
“We’re trying to estimate its movements, but the centre of the storm will be far away and it will have left by then,” said Hines.
Auckland residents will have felt a dramatic shift from yesterday’s wind and rain, as the sun begins to poke through the sky and promises a drier spell headed into the weekend.
The strong winds have eased and rain cleared in the metropolitan city, a chance of showers lingers tomorrow but the forecast is mostly positive for the country’s most populated city.
Further south in Wellington, the region should expect further rain and wind to slam the capital as the cyclone transitions to Marlborough, according to Hines.
A similar situation presents itself for Christchurch, which is on the edge of the cyclone’s reach and is currently experiencing chilly southerly winds and rainfall of lesser intensity.
By Thursday afternoon, most of the rainy weather should have cleared from the South Island.
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