Severe thunderstorm warning issued for Bay of Plenty
There is a thunderstorm watch for the Bay of Plenty.
Photo:
MetService
A severe thunderstorm warning has been issued for Bay of Plenty until about 9.30pm on Friday.
Areas affected include South Waikato, Western Bay of Plenty, and Rotorua.
MetService said the thunderstorms are moving east-southeast and are expected to bring heavy rain, which may cause flash flooding and make driving extremely hazardous.
Meanwhile, a slip has come down in the Kaimai Range and is currently blocking State Highway 29 near the lookout.
Police said drivers between the Bay of Plenty and Waikato should delay their travel or take another route.
SH29 KAIMAI RANGES, BAY OF PLENTY - SLIP - 8:15PM
Due to a slip the road is now CLOSED between Te Poi and Tauriko. Eastbound traffic detour via SH28, SH5, and SH36. Reverse for Westbound. Allow at least an additional 90 minutes to your journey time for the detour. ^EH
pic.twitter.com/J4E75TVH9q
It comes as MetService said the bulk of the rain band that hit Auckland earlier in the evening has moved through Coromandel. It is now hitting Bay of Plenty, with heavy showers heading towards Rotorua.
A severe thunderstorm warning issued for Auckland was lifted after a significant "short, sharp" downpour hit the city after 5pm.
Meteorologist Katie Hillyer said the band of rain was heading east but the heavy rain was now mainly offshore and the intensity had reduced.
She said people should still keep an eye on the forecast.
Thunderstorm Warning issued In Bay of Plenty/Rotorua on a line of severe thunderstorms lying from PYES PA to NGONGOTAHA to GUTHRIE.
This line of severe thunderstorms is moving towards the eastsoutheast, and is expected to lie from OROPI to NGONGOTAHA to WAIKITE VALLEY at 08:45…
pic.twitter.com/v2afGqosTa
A line of severe thunderstorms is moving towards the east, and is to be accompanied by very heavy rain.
Fire and Emergency services said they were responding to a number of natural events in Auckland as heavy rain hit the city.
Parts of Wairau Valley flooded after heavy rain lashed the North Shore suburb.
Porana Road was closed, with water cutting off the street and closing one of the local Pak 'n Save's entrances.
However the flooding did not forced the supermarket to close, as it did during the 2023 flooding.
MetService said the rain in Auckland was expected to completely clear by midnight.
Auckland update: That short-sharp line that brought heavy rain (20-35mm) has faded to the east and rain is on its way out altogether.
pic.twitter.com/Hf7CyMqhP3
MetService has issued a severe thunderstorm watch for Coromandel Peninsula until 8.30pm on Friday and for Bay of Plenty including Rotorua until 11pm on Friday.
A heavy rain watch is in place across Auckland and Great Barrier Island, as well as Coromandel and Bay of Plenty.
MetService said up to 30mm of rain fell on the city in one hour.
There are reports of flooding in the suburb of Mt Roskill and about 50 domestic flights were disrupted by the downpour.
Gridlock on Upper Harbour Motorway following a crash.
Photo:
RNZ/Calvin Samuel
There were multiple crashes across Auckland's motorway network as the rain came down.
Three of the four southbound lanes near the Onewa Road on-ramp on the Northern Motorway were blocked at 5.50pm but that has now been moved clear of lanes.
Another "multi-vehicle" crash westbound on the Upper Harbour Bridge has also been now been cleared.
More crashes were to follow. On the Southern Motorway a single vehicle crash blocked a southbound lane after Market Road and on the Northwestern Motorway a lane was blocked eastbound after the St Lukes Road on-ramp. These have also both now been cleared.
Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero,
a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
RNZ News
5 hours ago
- RNZ News
Burst water main causes issues on Auckland's North Shore
A watermain burst on Lake Road in Northcote on Auckland's North Shore this afternoon causing low, or no water to Northcote, Northcote Point, Hillcrest and some of the Takapuna area. Photo: Instagram / Richard Hillls Watercare is conducting emergency repairs along Lake Road in Auckland's Northcote after a water main burst. Watercare's website says properties in Northcote, Hillcrest and Takapuna are affected and may experience low water pressure until the fault is repaired. It says the fault was reported at 1.45pm on Wednesday afternoon, and the estimated restoration time is close to midnight Thursday. North Shore councillor Richard Hills said that Watercare were arranging for water tankers to be stationed at 22 Potter Avenue and 46 Raleigh Road, but no timeframe was given for when these would be in place. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
10 hours ago
- RNZ News
Weather: Coastal Taranaki residents report being hit by tornado-like squall
Video of the tornado-like squall were posted to social media. Photo: Facebook/Amy Barrett A coastal Taranaki woman has described a tornado-like squall hitting near Cape Egmont. Lynley Johnson, who lives on Anglers Ave in Warea, said she saw a mass of cloud gathering out at sea, north off the coast at about 10am. "I noticed the cloud formation and my husband and I looked at it and went wow, that really looks like a tornado, so we watched it and it was rapidly moving, swirling and then it hit the land and we thought it sort of broke up, and about a half hour later we got a really big hail storm come through with fairly sizeable hail stones. "It's been coming through off and on all morning." She said she shot video of the tornado and her neighbours had been reporting damage. "There's been a bit of damage down Pungarehu way - Pungarehu Road I think it came in on - with powerlines down. "I'm not sure if there's damage to homes or anything, but we've had some really squally winds that have really driven us to stay in the middle of the house. At the moment it is torrential out here." Margaret Bolstad also posted about a tornado on the Taranaki Extreme Weather Facebook page. "Tornado Lower Pungarehu Road, has taken out power, lines down, shook house. I thought windows were going to implode, freaky and very loud." She told RNZ that here property was right near the beach. "The Tornado came through at 9.53am and was very, very loud. I thought it was a loud crack of thunder, but then the house was shaking and the windows were moving in and out. I thought they were going to implode. "The fence around the section was swaying backwards and forwards. There was a loud bang then the power went out. I then switched things off and rang Powerco as power lines had broken and fuses had popped." Powerco's outages page showed one customer in the area was affected while Fire and Emergency said that they have had no call outs or reports about the weather. MetService says the thunderstorms could produce a few small short-lived tornadoes that are expected be very localised. Photo: MetService/Supplied MetService currently has a severe thunder watch in place for Taranaki from midday to 6pm. It said the thunderstorms could produce a few small short-lived tornadoes that were expected be very localised, but may cause damage to structures and vegetation. Brief heavy rain, hail and squally winds were also in the mix. MetService advised that should severe weather approach or if people felt threatened, they should take shelter immediately. Powerco said no lines were down, but one customer had a fuse problem most likely caused by lightning. Fire and Emergency said that they have had no call outs or reports about the weather. Powerco's outages page showed one customer experiencing and unplanned outage in the area. The Taranaki Extreme Weather Facebook page was filled with posts and comments about the weather on the coast. Another woman had also shot video for the tornado coming ashore at about 10am. "Thats not too small either, I hope everyone was safe and not too much damage," commented one woman. Another commentator saw a silver lining. "Mother nature is so scary, but beautiful at the same time. I hope everyone is okay and we don't get anymore." It brought back bad memories for another. "Scary stuff, just over two years since one took our roof, all our wooden fences and 30 plus mature trees. Only recently - feel like 80 percent of damage/delayed projects are done." Another posted video of a second twister at Pungarehu at 11.30am while golf-ball sized hailstorms raining down at Warea an hour earlier featured in another video. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
17 hours ago
- RNZ News
Weather: Power cuts, trees fall on SH2 in Bay of Plenty thunderstorm
File pic Photo: UnSplash/ Craig Whitehead More than 200 homes in Bay of Plenty are without power, after high winds and thunderstorms moved across the region overnight. Nearly 170 homes were cut off across Oropi and Pukehina overnight, and another 70 properties are without power in Tauranga on Wednesday. Meanwhile, State Highway 2 at Karangahake Gorge is under traffic management due to a fallen tree. The highway was earlier closed between Manawahe Road and Caverhill Road due to a downed tree but has now reopened, NZ Ttransport Agency says. UPDATE - 7:25AM This section of #SH2 is now OPEN. ^AA MetService says strong gusts peaked at 50 kilometres an hour last night. A heavy rain watch for the Bay of Plenty region was lifted at 6am. Meanwhile, MetService says there will be another round of thunderstorms today due to the low pressure system over the Tasman Sea. The low pressure system over the Tasman Sea has another serving of squally thunderstorms for us today. ⛈ This brings the risk of heavy falls, strong wind gusts and hail to western parts of the country In the South Island, Arthur's Pass and Porters Pass are both under road snowfall warnings which will expire at 9am. Around 1cm of snow is expected on both above 900 metres and after that there will be rain.
