Flood-hit residents in Nelson and Tasman face more severe weather tomorrow morning as local Civil Defence prepares for another onslaught.
MetService has issued new severe weather warnings this morning, which affect the top of the south districts but also more widely across the upper North Island.
Auckland, Northland, Bay of Plenty, Waikato and parts of Taranaki and Gisborne are among regions facing orange warnings or yellow watches as a large low-pressure system and associated fronts bring widespread severe weather from tomorrow.
Orange rain warnings are in place for Tasman District northwest of Motueka from 3am to 6pm Thursday, with 120-150mm of rain expected and up to 200mm in localised areas.
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From 6am to 9pm, Tasman and Nelson districts, about and southeast of Motueka, face 80 to 110mm of rain about the sounds and ranges, and 50 to 80mm elsewhere.
Tasman Mayor Tim King said residents were “doing what communities do” to prepare.
There is a low chance orange warnings will be upgraded to red, according to MetService.
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“They’re helping people to prepare for this next lot of rain,” he told Breakfast.
“Whether that’s sandbagging, moving stock, trying to fix the damage on properties, the contracting people who are out fixing council infrastructure, roads, bridges, again, trying to put in temporary fixes to prepare for that coming forecast.”
Orange rain warnings have also been issued for parts of Tairāwhiti/Gisborne and Bay of Plenty. Yellow rain watches have been issued for Auckland, Northland and Waikato.
Weather has been ‘soul-destroying’ – Tasman mayor
A second bout of rain is expected tomorrow as Civil Defence prepares for the worst. (Source: 1News)
More than 300mm of rain fell across parts of Nelson-Tasman late last week, triggering widespread flooding, slips and road closures. A state of emergency remains in place.
He acknowledged the toll on residents still cleaning up from weekend flooding that killed one person and caused millions of dollars in damage across the region.
“It is soul-destroying. For many of these property owners, this will be the biggest event that’s happened in their lifetime,” the mayor said.
“The impact on people and the stress in communities is huge.”
With the looming bad weather, King urged residents in at-risk areas to “leave early”.
“Please make those decisions to leave early. That’s much easier to leave early and come back if it doesn’t eventuate, and go, ‘gosh, you know, maybe that wasted 24 hours,’ than to try and leave when the water’s right at your back door.”
Millions worth of damage in Nelson
Flooded communities remain cut off tonight, as the full extent of the clean-up becomes clearer across the top of the South Island. (Source: 1News)
Earlier this week, Nelson Mayor Nick Smith said there had been millions of dollars worth of damage to roads, bridges, fences, farm buildings, hop gardens and orchards.
“The worst areas are Wai-iti, Tapawera, Motueka Valley, Kohatu, Motupiko, Pretty Bridge Valley and Tadmor.”
The Tasman District Council warned that while the forecast rainfall would normally cause only moderate flooding, current conditions were “far from normal” with saturated ground and damaged infrastructure.
Tasman District Council said the rain warnings were “not the news we wanted right now”.
The council provided an update from its hydrology team on what to expect: “While under normal antecedent conditions, these totals combined with a short duration event would produce low to moderate floods. However, we are far from normal, with very saturated ground and compromised infrastructure.”
The council said Golden Bay’s larger rivers should hold the forecast rainfall but smaller catchments would “react quicker”.
“We can expect further surface flooding, landslipping and road closures to already compromised roads and associated structures.”