Wet winter here to stay for some

The Wairoa-Napier road was closed. Picture / Hawke's Bay Today

Coromandel farmers and beach-house owners may have escaped a predicted drenching yesterday, but it appears people living along the eastern North Island had better get used to a wet winter.

However, it will also be warmer than usual in northern and eastern parts of the country.

National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (Niwa) yesterday released its quarterly prediction for the next three months.

Principal scientist Dr Jim Salinger said May, June, and July were likely to be wetter than average in northern and eastern New Zealand.

Mild temperatures would continue in the north.

"The rest of the country, including the South Island hydro catchments, can expect typical late autumn or early winter conditions."

Above-normal rainfall and above-normal soil moisture levels and stream flows would persist in eastern areas of both the North and South Islands, plus northern areas of the North Island.

Auckland yesterday copped much of the rain that avoided the Coromandel. The Fire Service attended dozens of weather-related calls in the city, mostly for flooded homes that needed water pumped out.

The calls were mainly confined to Westmere and Ponsonby, and through Mt Albert and Mt Eden.

Rodney District Council spokesman Mike Isle said there was some surface flooding in the Red Beach area of Whangaparaoa, but nothing serious.

MetService predicted the Coromandel - which was already sodden from last week's storms - would receive up to 120mm of rain on Wednesday night.

Instead just 24mm fell in Paeroa and 7.5mm in Whitianga.

MetService forecaster Cameron Coutts said most of the rain took a turn out to sea, largely bypassing the peninsula and Western Bay of Plenty, only to fall heavily across areas in the East Coast.

Hicks Bay received 68mm over 24 hours, nearly half of which fell in one hour.

Transit was forced to close SH2 from 8pm Wednesday to 1.30pm yesterday when a large slip on the south side of the Matahorua Gorge, between Wairoa and Napier, blocked the highway. Traffic was diverted along a loop road.