The worst has passed for Northland, which was hit with more than a month’s worth of rain in 24 hours on Thursday, according to MetService.
The downpour shut down state highways, sparked severe flooding, knocked out power for more than 600 homes and cut off New Zealand’s northernmost town, Kaitāia.
“There’s still heavy rain in Northland, but it has eased from what it was yesterday,” MetService meteorologist Stephen Glassey said.
MetService has a heavy rain warning in place for Northland until 11am and in Auckland until 7am.
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Kerikeri was the worst hit with 172mm of rain in 24 hours. Kaitāia saw 101.4mm of rain and Whangārei airport had 32.4mm.
“Thursday was the wettest day the Far North has seen all year,” Glassey said.
Antonia Cathcart/Stuff
Northland’s Kaeo River Bridge on SH10 has flooded after almost 100mm of rain on Thursday.
Meanwhile, Auckland has hit record August temperatures for the third night in a row.
On Thursday night, the lowest temperature was 16.1C – the warmest minimum temperature for an August night that Auckland has ever seen.
Glassey said the heavy rainfall and warm nights are linked.
“The air coming down from the tropics is warm and carrying a lot of moisture. That’s bringing both the warm temperatures and the potential for rain,” he said.
