This drone shot from Hastings gave the perfect view of the lightning that struck Napier on Tuesday. Photo / Mark Sudfelt
This drone shot from Hastings gave the perfect view of the lightning that struck Napier on Tuesday. Photo / Mark Sudfelt
Hawke's Bay is dancing on a knife edge of spring storms, with hail, thunder, lightning and gusts that hit the Napier-Hastings area on Tuesday unlikely to be a one-off.
The worst hail appeared to have been on the coast and through the urban areas, largely steering clear of crops and blossoming orchards for which the threats of the time of a year are far from over.
Lightning hammered Hawke's Bay on Tuesday evening but it did leave for some great shots. Photo / Erica Cranswick
Amid forecasts of another drop in temperatures and possibly more thunder and lightning just 24 hours after the late afternoon bursts, with impact ranging from the intrigue of a white coating on the beach at Whirinaki to some building flooding as ice blocked drainpipes, MetService duty meteorologist Tui McInnes described the weather as "a very typical" spring pattern.
The storm coming from the west to the east stretched north to south from around Bay View, through Napier and Hastings to Havelock North before heading out on to the bay, and spanned as little as an hour-and-a-half.
The heavy hail left an aftermath which looked as if snow had fallen on the beach in Bay View. Photo / John Bidois
The hail and rainfall was localised and short, but the official recordings of 21mm of rain for the day in Hastings and less than 11mm at Hawke's Bay Airport appeared to be the heaviest, McInnes said.
Fire Emergency New Zealand answered seven storm-related calls but none involved major damage, although some businesses and other sites were still affected on Wednesday morning.
Although not among the calls, the most notably affected was the Flaxmere Library, community centre and gymnasium which was closed throughout the first Wednesday of the school holidays. It was expected to reopen on Thursday, Hastings District Council reported.
Storm clouds rolled in to Hastings showing the potential weather that was ahead. Photo / Jacqueline Braid
Fire service communications centre shift manager in Wellington Murray Dunbar said the number of calls didn't reach the situation where multiple calls were stretching the resources.
Flooding issues were generally caused by ice blocking drains, the only exception a lightning strike which caused a tree fire off Beattie Rd, Bay View.
The first callout was at 4.24pm to the St Vincent de Paul "St Vinnies" charity op-shop in Carlyle St, Napier, where water had entered the building from the roof, dropping of two ceiling panels and causing some flooding in the premises. A single crew spent about half an hour at the scene.
Whitebaiters were able to get a great view of the storm from the Ngaruroro River. Photo / Anthony Crusaders
Two calls followed in quick succession in Heretaunga St West, Hastings, to Hastings Pharmacy at 4.38pm, and the nearby Red Cross Hall at 4.40pm.
A Napier crew was then called to Dunstall's Funeral Services in Edwardes St, Napier at 4.51pm, a Taradale crew to the Otatara Heights Residential Care Centre at 4.57pm, and a Hastings crew was called to flooding on a property in Jervois St, Hastings, at 5.19pm.
Workers at Firth Industries had to find some cover as the storm came rolling in. Photo / David Tate
A single crew from Bay View Volunteer Fire Brigade extinguished the fire, which was reported at 5.38pm.
St Vinnies Napier shop manager Richard Kelly-Lowe was at the front window with staff and shoppers fascinated by the developing scene, when the reality of a climate change hit home.
"Part of the suspended ceiling came down, the guttering just couldn't handle it and it started flowing down and into the walls... like a river," he said. "There was nothing we could do."
Hail on the railway tracks near Bay View, near where the short late-afternoon Tuesday storm made its entry. Photo /John Bidois
A similar "water feature" appeared at Dunstall's, and there was no disruption to services, although as with other sites time was needed for drying-out and assessment of any damage that may have resulted.
The St John Ambulance Service reported no incidents relating to the weather, while police attended one traffic incident in which a car was reported to have crashed into a ditch about 4.25pm.
Occasional hail storms can be expected in Hawke's Bay in the October-December period, but nothing is expected of the extent of the worst hail storm recorded, a March 1994 blast which destroyed half of the region's apple crop, and cost crop and orchard insurers about $10.8 million.
