“We have a few orange warnings in place for East Bay of Plenty and Ōpōtiki, Gisborne, Tairāwhiti north of Tolaga Bay, and also Gisborne, Tairāwhiti south of Poverty Bay and the northeast of Hawke’s Bay,” Lynden said.
“There’s also a heavy rain warning in place for inland Whanganui and Manawatū tomorrow, so those orange rain warnings, we’re expecting up to 160 millimetres in some of those places, particularly the one for Gisborne, Tairāwhiti south of Poverty Bay and the Wairoa District.”
Heavy rain and wind is expected to batter eastern parts of the North Island. Photo / Niwa
He expected the heaviest rain to stick to the east, but wet weather to also make its way up through the Waikato and down into the South Island, particularly in Marlborough, the Kaikōura Coast and possibly northern Canterbury.
A low pressure system sitting off the east of Hawke’s Bay is driving these downpours, and heavy winds further down the North Island, and causing rainfall to be heavier in the region compared to the last few days.
Niwa weather described this as a “deepening low” which is set to create “hazardous conditions across parts of the North Island”.
Torrential rain has already devastated the Ōtorohanga District this weekend, closing roads, washing out bridges, and triggering slips and floodwaters. Photo / Mike Scott
“We are expecting [the low pressure system] to actually remain there for quite a long period of time,” Lynden said.
“So the heaviest belt of rain will be on the Sunday, but moving forward through the week, we are expecting drizzly, showery conditions to really continue as it sits to the east of the country right through until say Tuesday, Wednesday.”
Conditions should start to improve after the middle of next week, but Lynden couldn’t confirm if hot summer weather was on the way.
“I’m not going to commit to saying that in a week’s time we’ll have fabulous sunny weather, but certainly I would expect people will see some sun for the remainder of their summer, but you know, it’s hard to commit to saying anything too substantial there.”