North Island communities are bracing for more wild weather today after a former tropical cyclone wreaked havoc, causing widespread flooding, slips, damaging sea swells and forcing families to evacuate their homes.
People on the North Island’s east coast have borne the brunt of ex-cyclone Hale, as heavy rain and gale-force winds caused power outages and road closures.
Watches and warnings for heavy rain and severe gales remained in force overnight for several already drenched regions, but MetService was forecasting Hale to move off to the southeast late today.
Thames Coromandel District Council described the storm as a "one-in-20-year event" following a briefing with MetService and Waikato Regional Council, who warned to expect rainfall figures across the region to total 400mm.
"Our catchments are struggling to cope," a spokesperson for the council said after the briefing.
Just a few days ago, an earlier storm flooded roads on the Coromandel Peninsula.
Yesterday about 500 households in the area were without power and at least one home needed firefighters to clear floodwater from the property.
Storm-lashed Gisborne families near the Hikuwai River around Mangatuna self-evacuated after Civil Defence warned Hale was "potentially one of the worst" they had seen.
Up to 250mm of rain and swells of up to 6m were expected across the district.
Civil Defence controller Greg Shelton said the river was rising rapidly last night.
There was a major risk of thousands of hectares of farmland and property being damaged as the river threatened to reach a record level that would trigger mandatory evacuations, he said.
Gisborne District Council said rain models show the Hikuwai River could peak at 13.5m last night, exceeding the record 12.4m reached in 2005.
Coastline campers staying around Kaiaua on the Firth of Thames were also told to evacuate.
Through Northland, state highways were closed due to flooding and flights were cancelled.
SH1 through the Brynderwyns was partially closed shortly after noon due to slips and surface flooding.
A little while later, SH1 between Glenmohr Rd and Waipu was closed due to flooding.
All four Air New Zealand flights to and from Whangarei Airport yesterday were cancelled due to the weather.
