Heavy rain had moderate impact on the Kāpiti Coast

The heavy rain overnight and this morning has had a moderate impact on the Kāpiti Coast.

Kāpiti Coast District Council civil defence controller Scott Dray says the impact so far has been significantly less than the flood events in May and June this year. The rain in the Tararua Ranges has eased but is expected to become heavy again this afternoon. This could have a similar impact on roads and waterways as the rain earlier today. The council will continue to monitor the situation.

What has happened so far:

Rivers and streams have run higher and faster than normal and there was localised, minor to moderate flooding at multiple locations across the district. There was no significant impact from the king tide at around lunchtime.

The council has so far received around 20 requests for help, six of which were requests for sandbags. Staff have pumped out two private properties and one piece of reserve land. We are not aware of any private homes being flooded – just sections and possibly one garage at this stage.

There is surface flooding on a number of roads but the only road closures are the Akatarawa Road (on the Upper Hutt side) and the Ōtaki Gorge Road. The Ōtaki Gorge Road is passable by ute and we anticipate being able to open it to all traffic later this afternoon.

Light rain is expected to ease to isolated showers this afternoon, clearing this evening.

Rainfall:

140mm recorded at Taungata in the Tararua Ranges between 1pm Wednesday and 12 noon today.

50mm of rain was recorded at Paraparaumu Airport Between 2pm Wednesday and 1pm

ENDS

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