Photo: MetService
Heavy rain warnings are in place for the Gisborne and Eastern Bay of Plenty region with the worst of the downpour expected this morning.
MetService has extended its warnings until 10pm for the Bay of Plenty and 11pm for Gisborne.
MetService meteorologist Thapi Makgabutlane told Morning Report that there had been about 80mm of rain overnight in the Gisborne region.
"Going forward, the warnings do speak about 60-120mm [of rain] for places away from the ranges, however we would expect the highest of those rainfall amounts in the ranges ... [to be] about 150-250mm of rain."
Makgabutlane expected heavy bursts of rain to occur throughout the day. "Yesterday, Whakatāne Airport had about 29 millimetres of rain in one hour," she said.
"This morning in the Ōpōtiki region in the hour to 7am, we saw around 14 millimetres of rain, which is quite a lot within that short space of time."
She warned that the sudden deluges could damage the region's roads.
"With rainfall of this amount, there's always the possibility of streams and rivers rising, surface flooding and slips."
Makgabutlane said even though the areas forecasted to receive the most rain are not heavily populated, it is where a lot of the rivers are.
For surrounding areas like the Coromandel Peninsula and the central Hawke's Bay area there were also heavy rain watches in place, Makgabutlane said.
"Even if a place is under watch, there is still that possibility of very heavy rain ... and possible impacts as well."
In eastern Bay of Plenty there is concern lakes may flood.
Regional councillor Malcolm Campbell said Lake Rotomā has been flooding intermitently over the past five months.
He is worried that could overflow again and flood part of State Highway 30.
Meanwhile, four rivers in the Bay of Plenty region have reached first-level warnings and farmers with stock in low lying areas have been advised to move their stock.
Bay of Plenty emergency management controller Cara Gordon told Morning Report no reports of slips coming through yet.
"We've had a bit of rain come through in the region overnight, but not at levels that has caused issues, Gordon said.
"But ... as the forecasters are saying, we're expecting the worst of the rain to come through today."
There was good news, however, from about mid-week.
Makgabutlane said this weather system would gradually be easing out.
"We can start expecting a proper easing from the latter part of Tuesday, and then Wednesday looks like a mostly dry day out in that region.
"For the rest of the country if people do check out our severe weather outlook, you'll see a lovely statement that says minimal risk for severe weather for the next five days."
