Flooding has already been reported in parts of the region, with photos taken in \u014cakura showing streets and backyards under water. <\/p>\n
Whang\u0101rei Heads resident Kathy Wallace said the floodwaters covering her Ross Rd driveway in Parua Bay were worse this morning than when Cyclone Gabrielle hit.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe neighbour\u2019s dog kennel has bent the bridge railing,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re not going anywhere today.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kathy Wallace’s flooded driveway. Photo \/ Kathy Wallace<\/p>\n
Flooding has also been reported in Whangaruru, Punaruku and Helena Bay, with residents saying access to those east coast settlements north of Whang\u0101rei has been hampered.<\/p>\n
The Whangaruru North Residents and Ratepayers Association said T\u016bparehuia Marae has been opened for people needing shelter.<\/p>\n
In Helena Bay, Liv Patu said there had been torrential rain most of the night.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s about 14 of us out here this weekend [and] everyone was up around 5.30am moving cars and valuables to higher ground,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME.<\/a><\/p>\n Patu believed two cars may have had water fill the footwells.<\/p>\n \u201cThe whole bay had become one with the creek.\u201d<\/p>\n A Helena Bay farmer, who asked not to be named, said it was the worst flooding he had seen in 60 years and the first time floodwaters had come over the road by his house. His cattle had got out due to the fences being down.<\/p>\n There are also reports of people having to pull animals from the floodwaters this morning, with one person said to have lost some stock.<\/p>\n The Whang\u0101rei District Council confirmed Ngunguru, Helena Bay, \u014cakura, Punaruku and Whangaruru have been cut off by flooding.<\/p>\n \u201cPlease do not attempt to travel in or out of these areas until rain and flooding clears.\u201d<\/p>\n AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME.<\/a> Homes across the region are also without power thanks to a lightning strike around 5.15am.<\/p>\n Northpower said 225 homes in Whangaruru have no power, along with 525 customers in \u014cakura, Punaruku and Whangaruru. Field staff are investigating both outages.<\/p>\n On the roads, the Ngaiotonga Bridge has washed out by the turn off to Bland Bay and Whangaruru North Rd. The Far North District Council has been notified.<\/p>\n Motorist Amy Tipene said floodwaters were rising at Scows Landing on Ngunguru Rd, with the river breaking its bank. Tipene described the portion of road as \u201cdangerous\u201d.<\/p>\n A heavy rain warning is in place for Eastern and Central Northland until noon today. <\/p>\n MetService meteorologist Devlin Lynden told NZME some areas of Northland have recorded over 100mm of rain in the past six hours.<\/p>\n AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME.<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cMany places up there are certainly getting large amounts of precipitation, definitely enough to cause the surface flooding that people have been seeing up there.\u201d<\/p>\n Lynden said the heavy rain will move eastward away from the coastal areas from about midday.<\/p>\n \u201cI think it\u2019ll continue raining for a wee while this morning but gradually move off.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s looking like this afternoon there\u2019ll still be showers about, but the intensity will be significantly less than it has been this morning.\u201d<\/p>\n Northland Regional Council\u2019s rainfall data showed Dugmores Rock in Ngunguru, on the Tutuk\u0101k\u0101 Coast, received 171.5mm of rain in the last 24 hours.<\/p>\n The recording was the highest of NRC\u2019s rainfall monitoring locations ahead of Glenbervie Forest in Whang\u0101rei (139mm) and Puhipuhi Rd in Whakapara (100mm).<\/p>\n AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME.<\/a>Save<\/a>Share this articleCopy LinkEmailFacebookTwitter\/XLinkedInReddit<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Parts of Northland are underwater this morning after a night of torrential rain, with one resident describing the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":238588,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[74,39172,37461,19876,6559,5420,130,1304,111,43,139,2551,1067,69,1118,90,17711,6560,10710,7812,223,1961,6634,18971,14047,4998,102,8598,1530],"class_list":["post-238587","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-after","tag-describing","tag-flooded","tag-flooding","tag-heavy","tag-hes","tag-more","tag-morning","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-night","tag-northland","tag-nz","tag-of","tag-on","tag-parts","tag-rain","tag-resident","tag-seen","tag-the","tag-this","tag-torrential","tag-underwater","tag-way","tag-weather","tag-with","tag-worst","tag-years"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238587","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=238587"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238587\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/238588"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=238587"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=238587"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=238587"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Helena Bay swamped by floodwaters overnight. Photo \/ Liv Patu
Helena Bay swamped by floodwaters overnight. Photo \/ Liv Patu<\/p>\n
A Helena Bay farmer said it’s the worst flooding he’s seen in 60 years. Photo \/ Denise Piper
Photo \/ Denise Piper
Photo \/ Denise Piper<\/p>\n
Scows Landing on Ngunguru Rd. Photo \/ Amy Tipene<\/p>\n