An atmospheric river is set to unpack a torrid week of wet weather on Auckland and surrounding regions. Video / NZ Herald
A roof has been ripped off an historic building in Russell and a boat was being pumped out to stop it sinking as a big storm bears down on Northland the and rest of the upper North Island.
MetService had issued strong wind and heavy rain watches for Northland, but the worst of the weather produced by a subtropical low pressure system is now over. MetService said there will still be more rain and winds overnight, but said they will not reach levels predicted earlier.
MetService on Saturday warned the area to expect up to 220mm of rain and peak rainfall amounts to reach 25mm/h, and while Saturday night and Sunday saw bouts of heavy rain across the region, rainfall levels did not reach that high in much of the region.
MetService said it’s been a windy Saturday night and Sunday morning in Northland with Whangārei and Kaitaia recording 76km/h gusts. Purerua recorded gusts of 87km/h and 72km/h.
Travel to and from Northland will be affected though, as slip has closed State Highway 1 between Wellsford and Warkworth. Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency has advised motorists to use Woodcocks Rd, West Coast Rd and SH16. This detour may add up to 40 minutes of travel time.
Heavy winds on Sunday afternoon ripped part of the roof off the Gables Restaurant in Russell. The Gables is New Zealand’s oldest operating restaurant, built from pit-sawn kauri in 1847.
The Gables, New Zealand's oldest restaurant, situated on the Russell Waterfront. Photo / David Kirkland
Also in the Bay of Islands, Paihia volunteer firefighters rushed to help rescue a large catamaran that beached at Paihia in strong winds and torrential rain on Sunday.
There were also reports of surface flooding in parts of the region, particularly in the Bay of Islands as high tide hit around 2.30pm. As well, a number of outages cut power to parts of the region, but most supplies have now been restored.
But the worst of the wet and windy weather will be over for Northland early this evening, according to MetService.
Since Northland was put under orange heavy rain warning, thousands of households across the region have been without power while volunteer firefighters are pumping water off a catamaran that has been beached in Paihia. Strong winds and torrential rain are hampering efforts by Northpower and Top Energy lines crews to restore power in some places, with households in the mid and Far North warned to be prepared for power outages.
Paihia volunteer firefighters helping to rescue a large catamaran that was beached at Paihia in strong winds and torrential rain on Sunday. Photo / Supplied
A sub-tropical storm is moving towards the Coromandel Peninsula but not before dumping substantial rain in parts of Northland.
According to MetService, Kaikohe received 96mm of rain between midnight Saturday to 2.45pm today — the highest in the region. Broadwood, 48km southeast of Kaitaia, received 70mm, McDonald Rd in Waitangi 66mm, Whangārei Airport 53mm and Kaitaia just 19mm over the same period.
The most rain in Kaikohe was 17mm between 10am and 11am today. The average monthly rainfall in Kaikohe in April is 139mm.
MetService forecaster Mmathapelo Makgabutlane said rain would turn into intermittent showers in Northland early this evening as the rain band moved away from the region.
However, she said there was a risk of thunderstorms in the eastern and central areas of Northland tonight which could bring bursts of heavy rain.
Easterly winds would die down this evening and overnight temperatures would hover around 18 degrees, she said.
MetService said the weather system and associated features will continue to head southwards, bringing more rain and strong winds further south to Coromandel, Bay of Plenty and Auckland.
