Tauranga mops up after flooding

Tauranga was yesterday recovering from a brutal downpour that caused widespread flooding on Monday night.

The Fire Service was inundated with calls after thunder signalled the beginning of the deluge at 8pm.

By 8am yesterday, fire crews from Tauranga, Mt Maunganui, Papamoa and Greerton had attended 50 jobs.

Most were in the first hours after the rain began.

Homes in several Tauranga suburbs were flooded, some with more than a metre of water. Rain also leaked into a mall in the city's centre.

Roads became impassable in Mt Maunganui and two women had to be rescued from a car when it began floating down a street.

Tauranga station officer Lindsay Nicol said firefighters worked without a break until after midnight, but did not need to evacuate people from their homes.

As well as dealing with water-logged properties, they were called to three fires, including a suspicious one outside the outpatients' clinic at Tauranga Hospital.

The rain continued yesterday morning but the calls dried up as it eased.

Firefighters received only one call about flooding and two about downed power lines in Greerton and Pyes Pa, on the outskirts of the city.

By afternoon, the sun was out in Mt Maunganui.

Rain warnings for Coromandel and the Bay of Plenty were lifted yesterday, but heavy rain was expected last night around Gisborne and Tolaga Bay on the East Cape.

MetService weather ambassador Bob McDavitt said the low that brought the thundery downpour was moving away from the Bay of Plenty and "taking its rainclouds with it".

He said the downpour caused flooding because the rain came so fast.

Tauranga had 140mm in the 12 hours up to 8am yesterday. Drains were unable to cope with 67mm of rain in one hour and 84mm in two hours.

Mr McDavitt said New Zealand drains were typically built to take between 20mm and 30mm an hour.

Leigh, north of Auckland, holds the record for the most rain in an hour - 109mm two years ago.