Heavy rain has triggered reports of flooding across Wellington as severe weather continues to lash the lower North Island.<\/p>\n
Motorists have been urged to take extra care, with NZTA warning drivers to watch for surface flooding and hazardous road conditions as intense downpours continue.<\/p>\n
The wild weather is expected to affect much of the North Island throughout the weekend, bringing heavy rain, strong winds and the risk of thunderstorms to parts of Wellington and Auckland.<\/p>\n
According to MetService, Kelburn and west Wellington received 40mm of rain in 30 minutes on Saturday morning. <\/p>\n
Meteorologist Paris Marshall said torrential rain was expected to move further northeast across the city during the afternoon, and advised Wellington residents to stay alert. <\/p>\n
\u201c40mm in half an hour can cause flash flooding, can cause streams to rise rapidly. Some decent sized hail is moving through as well so stay inside and wait as it passes,” she said. <\/p>\n
A severe thunderstorm warning was issued for Wellington this morning, but had since been lifted. <\/p>\n
North Auckland was also expected to get hit by the weather, with a strong wind watch in place for Auckland and Great Barrier Island. <\/p>\n
Marshall said the wind was the biggest worry for Northland and Auckland, but to also anticipate possible storms.<\/p>\n
\u201cWatch for those southwesterly winds. For those exposed places they will be getting potential gusts of 100kph, which is enough to flip a trampoline or take down power poles,” she explained.<\/p>\n
\u201cNorth Auckland are under a moderate thunderstorm risk, and if they occur, they are expected to be producing heavy rain. That\u2019s around 10-25mm per hour.” <\/p>\n
MetService said the wind watch had a moderate chance of upgrading to a warning. <\/p>\n
There were multiple road snowfall warnings across the country, with highlighted areas including SH1 along Desert Road, SH7 on Lewis Pass and SH73 along Porters Pass.<\/p>\n
Road closures after heavy rain<\/p>\n