Downpours are on the way for the upper North Island, with MetService saying Coromandel can expect 150 to 200 millimetres of rain from 3am tomorrow.
Photo: Cole Eastham-Farrelly
The heavy rain warning for Coromandel has been upgraded to an orange rain warning as the upper North Island braces for another bout of bad weather.
Heavy rain and high winds are expected to reach Northland by 8pm before spreading to Auckland, Great Barrier Island and the Coromandel by early morning.
Severe Weather Update for the heavy rain and strong wind associated with the low approaching NZ
Main changes:
Coromandel upgraded to Heavy Rain Warning
Heavy Rain Watch added for western Bay of Plenty
Strong Wind Watch added for Coromandel and eastern Waikato pic.twitter.com/aomavGRfqH— MetService (@MetService) April 28, 2023
MetService said the Coromandel could expect 150 to 200 millimetres of rain from 3am tomorrow, with peak rates of between 15mm and 25mm an hour from tonight.
Heavy rain watches are in force for Northland, Auckland and Great Barrier from tonight, with strong wind watches in place for Auckland (about and north of Albany), Great Barrier Island, Coromandel and the eastern Waikato from tomorrow morning.
A low will cause an atmospheric river (AR) to landfall on the North Island today. It will stick around for the week, waxing & waning in intensity as it funnels moisture from the tropics to NZ.
Heavy rain expected this weekend & next week, particularly for northern North Island. pic.twitter.com/HZsb8BLpxU
— NIWA Weather (@NiwaWeather) April 28, 2023
Auckland Council said it was closely monitoring the situation and asked residents to clear drains and gutters ahead of the forecast high winds and heavy rain.
Auckland Emergency Management Duty Controller, Rachel Kelleher, said the situation was being taken seriously.
“Emergency Management has a duty team on call 24/7, 365 days of the year, so the duty team is actively monitoring the weather at the moment and keeping in contact with Metservice.”
Auckland Emergency Management was criticised for its handling of the January floods but said it learnt lessons from every emergency event.
Vector said its crews were ready to respond to power cuts.
Chief operations officer Peter Ryan said staff will work as quickly and safely as they can to restore any cuts.
He also asked people to be patient if they needed to stand crews down due to safety concerns.
