Photo: 123RF
More wet weather is expected for the country this week, as Whakatāne's total rainfall for the entire month of April falls in the past two days.
Severe weather warnings remain in parts of the country, including Bay of Plenty, Tasman, Buller, Westland and Fiordland.
MetService meteorologist John Law told Morning Report parts of Aotearoa have cleared for now, but there had still been "plenty" of rainfall - and more to come.
"It's been really slow moving," Law said.
"Places like Whakatāne in the last two days has had as much rainfall as it had for the entirety of April and I think its that slow-moving nature of these features which is really going to bring some large totals as we head through the rest of today, but also, towards the end of this week, particularly for those areas in the north and on the western side."
Later in the week, Law said rainfall totals on the western coast of the South Island could be enough to bring localised flooding and slips.
Rain could also bring issued to Taranaki, Marlborough Sounds, Wellington and Horowhenua.
It was worth keeping up to date with the forecast because although the weather may not look too bad at the moment, the second half of the week was looking problematic, he said.
"It may well be a very wet end to the week, it has to be said."
A warm night across much of the country.
— MetService (@MetService) May 1, 2023
Here's a selection of temperatures recorded at 5am today.
High teens across the North Island and the top of the South Island.
A cool spot in the far south with temperatures of 5C for Queenstown and Invercargill. pic.twitter.com/MIQjV3lGHu
Law said the low pressure was bringing moisture and "dragging" warm area around the country.
It was a "very mild" start to May in both the North Island and South Island and was going to continue for at least a week.
Overnight temperatures were particularly being affected - with areas around Auckland seeing minimum temperatures of 18 and 19, Law said.
'Still very much on alert'
Local Civil Defence officials were on high alert as the weather was expected to get worse over the coming days.
Lisa Glass of Bay of Plenty's Civil Defence Emergency Management said the wind had died off overnight but more heavy rain was expected throughout the week.
She was reminding locals to be prepared and take care when out driving.
Currently, there was no significant damage or flooding to report but it was being monitored - as was river levels.
The heavy rain warning for the area had been extended to 11am on Wednesday morning, with up to 200 millimetres of rain possible in the ranges, Glass told Morning Report.
Some parts of the region were no longer covered by the weather warning which was "great" but the team was "still very much on alert".
"Keep an eye on MetService, they are really, really good," Glass said.
"They even give us hyper local reports which is fantastic. Keep an eye on Waka Kotahi and if anything significant happens we will of course let you know any way we can."
Paul Shattock of Nelson-Tasman Civil Defence Emergency Management said the region was "fortunate" at the moment as not a lot of rain had fallen overnight.
He said some parts around Tākaka had accumulated about 100mm but they were currently in a watch and wait and see mode.
Shattock told Morning Report the advice for residents at this stage was to just keep an eye on official websites and be prepared for bad weather.
The roading network had not been affected at this stage.
"Fingers crossed it stays that way," he said.
