Heavy Rain Warning Lifted But a Watch in Place for Previous Warning Area

Some good news from the updated forecast from the MetService.

Namely the Heavy Rain Warning for the district north of Tolaga Bay has been lifted.

The Watch for the District from Tolaga Bay southwards has also been lifted.

However a Heavy Rain watch comes into effect for what was previously the warning area (the district north of Tolaga Bay) from 6:00pm tonight through to 6:00amTuesday.

The MetService are not expecting any real heavy rain in the District or the Watch Area from now until around 6:00pm. The current images on the Rain Radar are also looking good at the moment with not too much rain out there so this should give time for the rivers to go down.

RIVERS
The Hikuwai River is the only river that has been causing any concern reaching 9.05 metres at 10:00am This is still 2 metres below our first evacuation trigger but we have been keeping a close eye on it and making sure people in the area were given an early heads up to keep an eye on it last night.

The Waimata River was at 3.72m at 10:00am, the Waipaoa was at 4.31m and Te Arai at 1.22m

The latest levels at 11:00am shows the Hikuwai has dropped to 8.84m. Waimata has dropped to 3.54m, Waipaoa has dropped to 4.23m and Te Arai has dropped to 1.19m.

RAINFALL

There have been some big totals up the Coast in line with the forecast with 274 at the RIP, 234mm at Waikura, 263 at Mata, 204mm at Fernside, 205mm at Puketawa and 186mm at Hikuwai 4.

Gisborne airport had 61mm, Kanakanaia had 56mm, Wharekopae 78mm, Tolaga Bay 72mm and Ngatapa 56mm to name a few sites.

Attached is a snip from the Rain Radar showing where the rain was at 11:05am

ROADS
There are no major issues with the roads that we are aware of. There are some slips and surface flooding in some areas but we are not aware of any roads actually being closed.

SURFACE FLOODING
We have had some reports of surface flooding in some areas but nothing serious that we are aware of at this stage.

We are still waiting for further updates from around the District but we are not aware of any major issues.

Details of the Heavy Rain Watch are below

Heavy Rain Watch
For the ranges of Bay of Plenty east of Opotiki and Gisborne north of Tolaga Bay Valid: 12 hours from 6:00pm Monday to 6:00am Tuesday Forecast: Another period of heavy rain expected this evening until early Tuesday morning. Rainfall amounts may approach warning criteria during this time.

Watches no longer in force Heavy rain watch lifted for: Gisborne from Tolaga Bay southwards

Cancellations
The Heavy Rain Warning for Gisborne north of Tolaga Bay has been cancelled

ends

© Scoop Media