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Heavy rain has begun drenching parts of Auckland just hours ahead of the region's borders reopening, potentially sending cooped-up residents out into the country's wilderness.
Niwa says tropical moisture combined with the cloud connection from the tropics to New Zealand is the perfect fuel for thunderstorms - along with the strong winds and heavy rain forecast - to smash the country over the next 24 hours.
Parts of Feilding and Manawatu have been left underwater, while a train derailed due to the main trunk line being flooded last night, sending its carriages into adjacent farmland.
Persistent rain for Auckland
MetService this afternoon said the rain which has now hit Auckland will likely remain persistent for the remainder of the day.
Counties Energy and Vector are now warning Aucklanders of possible outages this evening due to high winds.
Fallen pohutukawa tree on the corner of Halsey Street and Fanshawe Street in central Auckland. Photo / Alex Robertson
Vector's general manager of operations & maintenance, Marko Simunac, said wind speeds could reach more than 60km/h in places.
"Following a period of rainfall over the past few days, the soil is still saturated and, together with strong winds this could unfortunately see an increased chance of trees or vegetation debris damaging power lines.
"I want to reassure people we have crews available to respond and have made preparations to be as ready as we can ahead of any impact this weather might bring."
The unplanned outage was reported at 3.05pm and crews are on their way.
However, Counties Energy were warning the high winds will hit gust between 70km/h and 90km/h between 8pm and midnight.
Motorists travelling northbound on the North-Western motorway near Te Atatū were also left crawling after a car had been hit from behind.
They will spark up again about 1am tomorrow until around 5am and gust up to 100km/h.
"These winds could cause power outages so please do your storm prep," it wrote on its Facebook page.
Transport across the North Island
Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency is also actively monitoring Cyclone Ruby as it tracks towards New Zealand.
Jacqui Hori-Hoult, regional manager of operations and maintenance, said the weather event had the potential to impact the state highway network with heavy rain warnings already in place for parts of the North Island.
🌀 New Caledonia 🌴 to New Zealand 🥝 — track this moisture plume extending southward from Tropical Cyclone Ruby...
Additional heavy rainfall is expected tonight into tomorrow for parts of Aotearoa, with a localised flood risk continuing 🌊 pic.twitter.com/hQgONl5CJZ
She urged motorists to travel with care especially given the reopening and removal of the Auckland borders tonight.
"On the night of December 14 southbound traffic can expect closures in place from 10pm to 1am as the boundary is removed while northbound traffic can expect stop/go traffic management in place until midnight, with the boundary removed by 1am.
"In the days following we know that people across the country will be looking forward to reconnecting with friends and whānau ahead of the holiday period and we are expecting the roads to be very busy."
🌧 MetService New Zealand have updated the Heavy Rain Warning for Bay of Plenty (including Rotorua).
⚠️ The warning is...
With this in mind, Waka Kotahi has decided to pause all planned maintenance and capital works involving full road closures on SH1 in Northland, Auckland and Waikato for a period of five days from Wednesday, December 15 to 8pm Sunday, December 19.
Wellington Airport flights disrupted
More than 60 flights in and out of Wellington Airport today have been disrupted due to a technical issue with the airport's landing system.
Airways spokesperson Holly Cushen said when the weather was poor landings were reliant on an Instrument Landing System, but currently, this was not operational.
She said the antennae used in the system was replaced but a test calibration flight - which can only happen in fine weather - needed to be completed before it could operate again.
Wet weather closes roads in the lower North Island
Heavy rain and flooding have forced the closure of roads across the lower North Island.
Wellington Water said crews are responding to numerous overflowing wastewater manholes on SH1 Mana Esplanade.
Traffic in the area has been reduced to one lane and the public are being asked to avoid the area.
⚠ Wastewater Overflow – Mana Esplanade Crews are responding to numerous overflowing wastewater manholes on SH1 Mana Esplanade. Traffic has been reduced down to one lane, with traffic management in place. The southbound footpath is closed off to pedestrian access.
Earlier this afternoon, flooding was reported on SH1 near Waterfall Rd and on SH 1 Grays Road. The left southbound lane on SH 1 Raumati near Waterfall rd is closed.
Slips have also been reported on SH 54 Vinegar Hill, near intersection of State Highway 1 in the Manawatū-Whanganui region.
Waka Kotahi are asking motorists to travel at the 30km/h temporary speed, stop on request and expect minor delays.
SH54 VINEGAR HILL, MANAWATU-WHANGANUI - SLIP - 11:15AM Due to a slip near the intersection of SH1, the state highway is now under STOP/GO traffic control with a temporary speed limit of 30km/h. Please expect DELAYS & pass with extra care. Next update is at 3pm. ^LZ pic.twitter.com/i7VncxXYiu
— Waka Kotahi NZTA Central North Island (@WakaKotahiCNI) December 13, 2021
Heavy rain warnings for South Island
Moving down to the South Island, Tasman, Motueka and Eastern Marlborough are also under a heavy rain warning.
The Kaikōura Coast is predicted to be the worst hit area with 100-180mm of rain expected to fall.
Parts of the Canterbury region including the plains north of Ashburton, the foothills and Christchurch could be hit with up to 160mm of rain.
MetService said rain is expected to ease north of Christchurch after midnight on Wednesday.
A wave warning has been issued for the East Cape to Cape Runaway. MetService said waves tomorrow morning would reach up to 4m, then ease to 2m later in the day.
Locals are also being warned that a northerly swell could rise to 3.5m on Wednesday afternoon. Swells are set to peak late afternoon.
#CycloneRuby continues to churn across #NouvelleCaledonie this afternoon. #Ruby's centre tracking directly over the northern coastline right now as a strong Cat 2.
An orange heavy rain warning has been issued for Gisborne from Tokomaru Bay northwards and is expected to lift at 4pm tomorrow. 100 to 160mm of rain is expected around the ranges while 70mm to 100mm is expected for the coast.
MetService is warning residents streams and rivers may rise rapidly due to heavy rain. Surface flooding and slips are also possible.
