East Coast rain warning in force as region braces for another deluge

East Coast residents are again bracing for another torrential deluge as Metservice issues a heavy rain warning for the Tairāwhiti area north of Tolaga Bay.

The heavy rain warning applies from 6pm Sunday to the following morning. Tairāwhiti Civil Defence is urging residents to stay off the roads during this period and warning those out camping that rivers will rise rapidly.

A heavy rain watch applies for the area south of Tolaga Bay from Sunday evening while a severe thunderstorm watch is in place for inland parts of Hawke’s Bay south of State Highway 5, and coastal areas south of Hastings, from 3pm to 11pm Saturday.

Metservice meteorologist Mmathapelo Makgabutlane said the low pressure system responsible for the Tairāwhiti heavy rain warning was on Saturday still well north of the country but expected to drift south and make landfall later on Sunday.

About 100 to 150mm of rain is expected in the area subject to the warning, she said.

Makgabutlane said the system was different from the tropical low in the Coral Sea that was last weak threatening to form the Southwest Pacific’s first tropical cyclone of 2024

“We’ve also got an eye on it,” she said.

The Queensland Bureau of Meteorology has said there is now a high risk of it turning into a cyclone and moving southwest into the Queensland coast next week.

Workers clear forestry slash pinned against Gisborne's Gladstone Road Bridge in the aftermath of Cyclone Hale on January 11, 2023. Photo / Grant Bradley

The Tairāwhiti rain warning comes after the region was repeatedly left reeling last year by wild weather, first by Cyclone Hale in January then by Cyclone Gabrielle the following month.

In Hawkes Bay, residents are warned to expected localised downpours inland below State Highway 5 and coastal areas south of Hastings between 3pm and 11pm Saturday, when between 25mm and 40mm of rain could fall per hour, Metservice said.

The downpours could occur alongside thunderstorms and cause surface or flash flooding, particularly around low lying areas.

Driving conditions are likely to be hazardous, Metservice is warning.