Fine weather ahead should aid North Island's flood clean-up

The MetService says the weekend's fine weather over the lower North Island should last most of the week, allowing hundreds of flood-affected people to continue cleaning up damage caused by heavy flooding.

Last week a state of emergency was launched in the Rangitikei district due to flooding, and a helicopter was used in Wanganui to fly in supplies to nine families cut off by slips.

It is estimated that many millions of dollars in damage was caused to the lower North Island regions, including Wairarapa and Manawatu.

MetService forecaster Mads Naeraa said some showers could be expected over the Tararua Ranges on Wednesday but falls would not be heavy. It should be fine today and tomorrow, he said, and a period of rain was possible on Thursday before the fine weather returned.

Southerlies could bring some weekend rain.

Elsewhere, not a lot of "interesting" weather was happening. A ridge of high pressure was over the North Island and "quite strong northwesterly flows" were likely.

A new front could arrive in the South Island on Tuesday evening, bringing rain to Fiordland and the West Coast. At the weekend the Rimutaka Hill was again closed as work began on clearing another large slip caused by heavy rain.

State Highway 2 reopened to traffic late yesterday morning, but the road was down to one lane and major delays to traffic were still being experienced.

Rangitikei Civil Defence controller Leigh Halstead said the cost of the damage caused by flooding late in the week would run into many millions of dollars. Landslips on hill country farms and damage to houses and infrastructure was significant.

"At the moment things are improving, in that all the river levels are down. There's still considerable water and flooding and washed-out roads and drop-outs on roads," he said.

Masterton District Council at the weekend dealt with sewage problems in some areas, and road damage.