\u201cAnd yes, there\u2019s that possibility of flooding with the amount of rain that we are expecting.\u201d<\/p>\n
Aucklanders are also set to wake to rain tomorrow, although the heaviest falls weren\u2019t expected until around 9am or 10am, Magwala said.<\/p>\n
Earth Sciences New Zealand meteorologist Chester Lampkin described the incoming system as \u201cpretty grunty\u201d, with a line of thundery downpours expected to move across parts of the North Island tomorrow.<\/p>\n
Some areas could receive a quick 10mm to 20mm of rain in the downpours, he said.<\/p>\n
An orange heavy rain warning is in force for the Tararua Range for nearly 24 hours, from 5pm today until 3pm tomorrow, with up to 150mm forecast.<\/p>\n
Peak rates of 15-20mm an hour are expected tonight and before dawn.<\/p>\n
Magwala said the ranges would receive particularly heavy rain because of the terrain and could be \u201cvery difficult to navigate\u201d.<\/p>\n
Heavy rain watches are also in place for Taranaki and the Ruahine Range into tomorrow.<\/p>\n
Heavy rain, snow disrupts travel in south<\/p>\n
NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA) said travel across western and central parts of the South Island had been disrupted today by widespread surface flooding, fallen trees and slips.<\/p>\n
State Highway 6 between Punakaiki and the Fox River on the West Coast was closed by a slip but had since reopened to a single lane.<\/p>\n
Flooding had affected sections of SH6 in the Lower Buller Gorge and SH7 between Greymouth and Reefton, as well as SH7 and SH65 between the Hanmer Springs turnoff and Murchison.<\/p>\n
Fallen trees have also been reported on highways near Westport, Berlins and the Inangahua Junction.<\/p>\n
Further inland, a separate slip had closed State Highway 65 between O\u2019Sullivan\u2019s Bridge and Shenandoah. Motorists were advised to avoid this route or delay their journey.<\/p>\n
A slip has blocked State Highway 65 near M\u0101takitaki. <\/p>\n
Woman, dog rescued from flooded gorge <\/p>\n
A woman and her dog were rescued from floodwaters at the Waimakariri Gorge this evening.<\/p>\n
Police were called at about 5.10pm after she became stuck in rising chest-high waters.<\/p>\n
Firefighters were able to bring the pair to safety about 30 minutes later.<\/p>\n
Further south, snow was already affecting the Lindis Pass in Otago this afternoon.<\/p>\n
Road snowfall warnings are in force for the Crown Range Rd, Lindis, Porters, Arthurs Pass and the Lewis Pass.<\/p>\n
Magwala said snow was already falling in some areas and there would be more overnight.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe can potentially see some road closures there before the system moves even further northeast,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The snow is expected to ease further south this evening and north of Christchurch tomorrow morning, with several centimetres possible around some alpine passes.<\/p>\n
An orange heavy rain warning also remains in place for the Grey and Buller districts and Nelson Lakes until 1am tomorrow.<\/p>\n
Unsettled spell will be brief \u2013 MetService<\/p>\n
Despite the wet, windy and snowy start to the week, Magwala said the unsettled spell would be relatively short-lived.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s more of a spring-like situation where we find this wet and snowy event, but a bit quicker,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a two-day event. Already from tomorrow, we see the easing of all of this event.\u201d<\/p>\n
He described it as a \u201cwet, windy second start to spring\u201d.<\/p>\n
Conditions are expected to improve first over the South Island and later across the North Island, although a weaker front is forecast to affect western parts of the country around Wednesday and Thursday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cAnd yes, there\u2019s that possibility of flooding with the amount of rain that we are expecting.\u201d Aucklanders are…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":591792,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[682,12412,3021,29463,3049,24925,19876,8456,6559,15220,1304,111,43,139,69,6507,17398,6560,673,18835,1555,61,701,8222,52,18980,102],"class_list":["post-591791","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-being","tag-brace","tag-bring","tag-commuters","tag-firing","tag-flood","tag-flooding","tag-fresh","tag-heavy","tag-line","tag-morning","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-overnight","tag-possible","tag-rain","tag-storm","tag-strong","tag-threat","tag-to","tag-tomorrow","tag-warned","tag-wellington","tag-winds","tag-with"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/591791","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=591791"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/591791\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/591792"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=591791"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=591791"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=591791"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}