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Severe weather warnings for South Island as burst of wet, windy weather looms

A front bringing heavy rain and gales sweeps across the South Island. Photo: Photo / 123RF The number of weather warnings and watches across the country has increased as a front bringing heavy rain and gales sweeps across the South Island. MetService has updated its orange heavy rain warnings for the Tasman district north-west of Motueka, the headwaters of the Canterbury and Otago lakes and rivers, the ranges of the Westland district and Fiordland north of Doubtful Sound from Wednesday. The heaviest falls are now expected in the Tasman District northwest of Motueka, with up to 300mm of rain forecast from midnight Wednesday, with peak rates of 20 to 30mm/h from midday Thursday and thunderstorms possible. MetService said there was uncertainty about the duration of the heavy rain and a moderate chance it would be upgraded to a red warning. The Tasman District Council said the heaviest rain was expected to start falling in the west of the region from midday Thursday and build through into Friday morning across to the ranges behind Nelson and Richmond. The hydrology team said it looked to be a moderate event, but there was uncertainty around the amount and duration of the rainfall and with the possibility of thunderstorms, it was prudent to plan for higher floods than expected. With rain coming from the northwest, moderate flood flows were expected in the Aorere, Tākaka and Riwaka/Brooklyn catchments. In Nelson, the Maitai, Wairoa and Waimea Rivers, including tributaries, were expected to reach annual flood levels. A 4.3m-high tide predicted for Nelson late Thursday night was expected to occur before the Maitai and Waimea rivers reached their peak flows. "Overall [it's] not a massive rainfall event but with any forecast like this should be planning for the impacts of some of these short sharp downpours as they may occur anywhere in these areas during this time period." MetService's severe weather warnings and watches. Photo: MetService In Canterbury, between 160 to 210 mm of rain was expected to fall about the main divide and in Otago, between 150 to 200 mm of rain. Heavy rain watches in place for Taranaki, Marlborough north of Seddon and Buller have a high chance of being upgraded to orange warnings, alongside heavy rain watches for Nelson and Tasman, southeast of Motueka and the ranges of the Grey District. Strong wind watches remain in place for Marlborough and Wellington, Canterbury high country, the Queenstown Lakes District, Central Otago, Southland north of Lumsden and Fiordland from Wednesday. Waka Kotahi said motorists in the upper South Island should be prepared for bad weather on state highways in the region, particularly State Highway 60 in Tākaka and Golden Bay given the orange heavy rain warning in the Tasman District. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.