Rain relief: ‘It’ll be some of the best weather Hawke’s Bay can get’, MetService says

The ocean crashes on the beach at Awatoto with Cape Kidnappers nearly visible in the background. Photo / Warren Buckland

Hawke’s Bay finally has some sun forecast in the lead-up to the school holidays.

The region’s been enduring a prolonged wet period that has left soil saturated, spirits dampened and another bridge knocked out.

Through the week the rain is expected to ease off, but speckles of wet weather are expected to break through, forecasters say.

Rain is likely to feature on Thursday and again on Saturday, but in between expect long, dry spots, MetService communications meteorologist Andrew James said.

“It’ll be some of the best weather that Hawke’s Bay can get,” said James.

That sun will not stick around as school holidays are set to get off to a “chilly and windy start”, but it is forecast to be “drier than it has been lately”.

The last dry day in Napier was on June 15. In 11 days, 124 millimetres of rain fell at Hawke’s Bay Airport.

“This year we’ve had more than twice as much rain as average”, James said.

Over the weekend, prolonged heavy rain made some roads impassable and isolated communities.

The Ongaonga General Store after very heavy rain. Photo / Ian Taylor.

State Highway 50 between Ongaonga and Tikokino closed overnight Friday-Saturday after a large part of the road and the Waipawa River Bridge abutment was washed away due to the Waipawa River flooding.

Several gauges in the Ruahine ranges have seen seven-day rainfall totals around 550mm, MetService said on Monday.