Heavy rain warning for Northland, wet and stormy weather across top of North Island
Photo:
MetService
Metservice is forecasting heavy rain and thunderstorms throughout the night across the top of the North Island, down to Waikato.
It's also warning of localised downpours which could cause surface or flash flooding and slips.
An orange heavy rain warning is in place for Northland until 6am Tuesday.
"Streams and rivers may rise rapidly. Surface flooding, slips, and difficult driving conditions possible," MetService said.
A severe thunderstorm watch in place for Northland, Auckland, Great Barrier Island, Coromandel Peninsula and Waikato until 6am Tuesday.
And a heavy rain watch is in place for Auckland, and Waikato north of Cambridge until 6am and The Tararua Range until 2am Tuesday.
Meanwhile, in Nelson
flash flooding
has caused manhole covers to erupt, as locals watched cows being washed down rivers.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles

RNZ News
15 minutes ago
- RNZ News
Live: Rain warnings, strong winds, thunderstorms forecast as winter blast arrives
A low pressure system sweeping across Aotearoa has triggered MetService to issue a slew of rain and wind warnings right across the country as winter arrives. MetService said downpours and thunderstorms across the North Island and parts of the South Island would gave way to snowfall on Wednesday night. On Wednesday morning about rain, wind and snow warnings were in place across New Zealand, as a low over the Tasman Sea began to cross the country. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.

RNZ News
2 hours ago
- RNZ News
Regional council says low risk to life when Middlemarch floods, residents say it's still stressful
Sewage in the Tap and Dough Bistro in Middlemarch, central Otago, in 2018. Photo: SUPPLIED The Otago Regional Council says there is no simple solution to stop the rural town of Middlemarch from flooding, but the risk to life is lower than expected. In recent years, flooding has spread water and contaminated muck through homes, businesses and streets, impacting bores and blocking roads. On Tuesday, the council hosted a community meeting to discuss the latest flood update and potential ways to reduce them. The sound of heavy rains sparked anxiety for some Middlemarch residents, as swelling streams flowed down the Rock and Pillar Range towards the town. In 2018, a deluge turned some streets into sewage ponds with one business flooding to knee-deep filthy water . Ruth Manning has owned a holiday home in Middlemarch for more than 20 years - it has been hit twice in recent floods. "So about 50 to 60 centimetres up the wall the water damage spread. I've had to have the carpet fully replaced twice and most of the furnishings that were in the cottage replaced as well," she said. "That's two insurance claims and we have been advised now that we won't be insured again should it happen again and our excess has gone up to $5000." The community hall was packed with Middlemarch residents who wanted to hear about the latest science and solutions from Otago Regional Council. The council found existing culverts, channels and bridges were too small, there were no easy solutions and they would likely be costly and challenging to implement. But council's flood hazard analyst Nathan Anderson said there was also some good news, including debris flow not being a major concern . "The risk of people losing their lives or getting injured ... is what specifically our focus was and that is relatively low because we don't have areas that are getting extremely deep or moving very fast," he said. One resident told the meeting that calling it low risk did not properly account for the toll it took on the community. "I think that underplays and undervalues the stresses that people have that live in the flood-prone areas and when the rain hits, I get a number of phone calls from people that live in those areas that have been flooded and they're damned anxious," he said. Flooding in Middlemarch in 2021. Photo: Supplied / Robin Thomas Nathan Anderson acknowledged the concerns, saying that the risk to life might be low but the council was aware of the other impacts from flooding. A flooded caravan did not deter Patrick Flanagan from settling here about five years ago. "It didn't stop us from building, we just had to build 400 millimetres above any known flood height," he said. "For the community, it was a bit devastating because some businesses closed down and, obviously, it puts a lot of stress on people whose places are very close to flooding." He was pleased to see the council were taking the issue seriously and he hoped to see more solutions that would help to protect homes in the community. Ruth Manning was keen to see some longer term solutions that could help Middlemarch to grow, saying it was an affordable place to live. "There's multiple residential properties here in the area and I think people are put off by the risk of flooding and actually buying in the first place," she said. "But if we had a good flood mitigation scheme, then it would actually attract more people to this area." In 2023, the council installed a new rain gauge to boost flood forecasting in the area. Improving channels, creating a diversion channel and debris basins were among the possible solutions, but Nathan Anderson said there was no silver bullet solution despite using modelling to test a range of different options. The ballpark figures ranged from about $2 million to upwards of $15 million and did not include design or land costs. "We're here to help solve their problems. That's really what we hope to get out of it," Anderson said. "At the end of the day, it really comes down to it's going to be their decision of how they want to achieve that balance between cost and effectiveness." Another resident told the meeting that the flooding hit their water bores and could potentially take weeks to fix, forcing people to boil their water to brush their teeth or rely on water tankers. Angela and Shane Foster hoped to start building their Middlemarch home in the next 12 months. Armed with information from the council and locals, they were opting for a foundation that would raise it up on piles to give them more protection, he said. "We are on a wee bit of an incline so we believe from what we've been told it doesn't get that far up but one in 100 year (flood) could get that far up," he said. Angela Foster said the community wanted to see some action. "There has been a lot of modelling done in offices. There's been a lot of interesting work done behind the scenes, but there doesn't seem to be much happening on the ground," she said. "I think if people see things happening on the ground, whether it be widening of creeks or clearing out of creeks or whatever it may be, if they could see some actual work it might help people's view that they're being helped and not just being forgotten about." Otago Regional Council hoped to have more detailed options to show the community in the next year, but said it was clear that the community wanted to hear more about solutions. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.

RNZ News
3 hours ago
- RNZ News
Weather: Orange rain warnings, strong winds, thunderstorms forecast as winter blast arrives
The country is about to be "plunged into winter" with snow to sea level possible in Canterbury and Otago by the weekend, MetService says. A long list of of rain and wind warnings and watches are in place as a winter blast is set to converge on both islands. It's coming from across the Tasman Sea and bringing heavy rain, gale-force winds, and potential snow . Today's rain radar map Photo: Screenshot / MetService The South Island's orange-level rain warnings cover the Tasman District, west of Motueka, from 6am on Wednesday; and Marlborough, northwest of the Richmond Range, and Nelson, east of the city, from 9am. Orange warnings for the North Island kick in for Taranaki Maunga from 7am; Northern Taihape and the southern parts of Taupō and Taumarunui from 10am; the Tararua Range from 11am. Most of these places can expect up to 150mm of rain with peak intensities of 20-30mm per hour, though the upper slopes of Taranaki Maunga could see heavier rain of up to 220mm. A further orange heavy rain warning is in place for Bay of Plenty, east of Whakatāne, and inland Gisborne/Tai Rāwhiti from 8pm on Wednesday into Thursday morning. Heavy rain watches are in place for Fiordland, north of Breaksea Sound, overnight; and Horowhenua, Kāpiti Coast and Wellington from Wednesday morning. Similar watches are in effect from Wednesday afternoon for Northland, Auckland and Great Barrier Island; Buller and Grey Districts south of Karamea; and Westland District, north of Fox Glacier. There's a long list of weather warnings and watches covering most of the country for the next few days. Photo: Screenshot / MetService MetService meteorologist Heather Keats described the list of warnings and watches as "huge" as the system begins to affect the country. She said "significant" wind and rain watches were in place, with some areas under orange rain warnings. "There's also thunderstorms again tied up in this system. So as the fronts travel across, they're going to possibly bring more downpours and we're expecting them to spark up from this afternoon... "We're talking again from about Westland all the way up the west of the entire North Island and as far east as Bay of Plenty." They could deliver up to 40mm of rain in an hour, Keats said, and a potential for flooding. "That warm northerly system meets a very biting southerly and that's when the snow kicks off from about midnight tonight." Canterbury, excluding Banks Peninsula, was under a heavy snow watch, with snow expected to fall above 300m, Keats said. There was the potential for snow at sea level for Otago and Canterbury from overnight on Friday. "So Christchurch, Dunedin you could be seeing some snow for winter as early as Friday night, Saturday. "It does feel like we're going to be plunged into winter because this biting southerly is for the entire country." It meant temperatures would be much colder than usual for this time of year, she said. Strong winds were expected for Wellington, Taranaki, Auckland and Northland. It might make conditions difficult for commuters in major cities, such as Auckland, Keats said. It was unlikely the rain warnings would be upgraded to red although it paid to keep an eye on the rain radar, she said. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.