Hawke’s Bay rain: Up to 180mm fallen across region in 24 hours, more coming, no reports of significant flooding

Rural roads have been damaged by slips and washouts and at least one crash has been reported due to surface flooding, as persistent rain continues to fall in Hawke’s Bay.

However, there have been no major flooding events reported by emergency services as at noon on Friday.

More heavy downpours are forecast until Saturday midnight in Hawke’s Bay, with Waipawa River expected to rise the most of the region’s rivers potentially reaching “part way up stopbanks”.

Hawke’s Bay Civil Defence was also holding a regional co-ordination meeting this morning with local councils due to the heavy rain forecast.

SH2 Napier-Wairoa Rd reopened at 10am on Friday – after being closed on Thursday due to flooding – while SH5 Napier to Taupo Rd is expected to reopen at 2pm on Friday.

Meanwhile, Hawke’s Bay Regional Council reported 30mm to 180mm of rain in the 24 hours to Friday 6am across the region, with the heaviest rain in the ranges.

“We understand it has been an anxious time for some of you overnight, as the heavy rain has continued,” a Hawke’s Bay Regional Council post read, on Friday morning.

“While the rain has been heavy and will continue over the weekend, this is not extreme flooding.”

According to the regional council’s river monitoring data, most rivers in the region were, as at Friday noon, down on the peaks of 6pm on Thursday.

“We expect another 150mm to 200mm of rain in the ranges over the next three days, and 50mm to 100mm of rain in the foothills and plains,” the regional council post read.

“We expect Wairoa, Ngaruroro and Tutaekuri river levels to rise again on the weekend, probably hover around five-year levels – bank to bank – so reaching the bottom of the stopbanks.

“We expect Waipawa [River] to be at between five-year and 20-year levels – causing the river levels to rise part way up stopbanks.”

To put the river levels in perspective, Ngaruroro River was measured at Fernhill to have a flow of around five million litres per second during the peak of Cyclone Gabrielle in February, which caused significant flooding, and only reached one million litres per second at its peak late on Thursday.

For Waipawa River, it reached a peak of around 3.5 million litres per second at the SH2 bridge during the peak of Cyclone Gabrielle, and only reached 700,000 litres per second at its peak late on Thursday.

Emergency services ‘ready to respond’ to any significant flooding

Police responded to a minor crash on the Hawke’s Bay Expressway, between Napier and Hastings, about 11am on Friday. While there were no injuries, it did cause traffic headaches around lunchtime.

Firefighters were helping with traffic control at Takapau on Friday morning after a car towing a boat slipped off the road due to surface flooding.

That incident happened about 8.30am on SH2 near Takapau in Central Hawke’s Bay and no-one was injured.

A police spokesperson said they had been called to a couple of weather-related incidents in the region since Thursday, including debris down on properties, but nothing that indicated significant flooding as at noon Friday.

“Local police are monitoring rivers and wetlands along with Hawke’s Bay Emergency Management personnel.

“Police are out and are visible and ready to respond to any calls for service regarding weather events.

“Police ask everyone to drive to the conditions. The roads are wet and there is surface flooding in some areas, so if you can delay any travel please do so.”

MetService’s heavy rain warning remains in place until Saturday 9pm

An orange heavy rain warning (the highest warning being red) remains in place across much of Hawke’s Bay until 9pm on Saturday.

MetService was forecasting more downpours on Friday and Saturday for Hawke’s Bay south of SH5.

“Heavy rain may cause streams and rivers to rise rapidly. Surface flooding and slips are also possible and driving conditions may be hazardous,” the warning read.

“Expect 200mm to 250 mm of rain to accumulate about the Ruahine Range and Kaweka Forest Park, 100mm to 140mm of rain about the remaining ranges including the coastal hills of Central Hawke’s Bay, and lesser amounts elsewhere.

“These amounts are in addition to the rain that has already fallen. Peak rates of 10mm/h to 20 mm/h.”

A heavy rain watch – effectively one down from a heavy rain warning – is in place for the rest of Hawke’s Bay north of SH5 such as Wairoa also until 9pm Saturday.

Further up the coast, Gisborne is in a state of emergency and MetService has a red heavy rain warning in place for that district until noon Sunday.

State Highway update

Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency confirmed on Friday morning SH2 Napier-Wairoa Road had reopened and SH5 Napier-Taupō Rd is expected to reopen by 2pm on Friday.

Napier-Taihape Rd also remained closed due to flooding.

InterCity has cancelled eight inter-regional buses today due to disruption caused by flooding and slips. The cancellations impact Central North Island, Hawke’s Bay and Gisborne regions.

Passengers will have the option to transfer to another day or receive a full refund.

‘Really starts to put emotive stress on families’

A growing list of rural roads in Hawke’s Bay have been closed and damaged as a result of the latest downpours.

Central Hawke’s Bay deer farmer Grant Charteris said their road, Gwavas Rd in Tikokino, was badly damaged during Cyclone Gabrielle in February.

Work was done to cut a temporary road down to an old bridge which, on Friday morning, had its approach washed out during the latest heavy downpours.

“It is a massive step backwards,” Charteris said, of again losing access to that road.

“Our only access out 1687487326 is Salisbury Rd and that is marginal when you get weather like this.”

He said if that road was to be cut off this weekend it would impact “a huge amount” of people.

He said when you lose road access and get isolated it takes a toll on people’s wellbeing.

“You take away the ability for people to get anywhere and for your kids to do things and that is when it really starts to put emotive stress on families and situations.”

He said he would have liked to have seen an original culvert – destroyed on Gwavas Rd during Cyclone Gabrielle – fixed by now.

Civil Defence meeting with councils

Hawke’s Bay Civil Defence Emergency Management Group (HBCDEMG) was holding a co-ordination meeting with local councils and emergency services this morning, ahead of more downpours on the way.

“We are keeping a close eye on things and will update you as necessary,” a HBCDEMG post read, on Facebook.

“If you feel you, your family and/or your property are at risk, immediately contact emergency services on 111.”

Civil Defence directed people to check their local council websites for information on local road closures, and impacts on local services.

‘No evacuations likely’

The head of Hawke’s Bay’s Civil Defence said on Thursday that flooding and widespread evacuations were unlikely amid the rain in the region’s hills, expected to be the most since Cyclone Gabrielle.

PanPac pulp and paper mill north of Napier evacuated its Whirinaki site as a precaution Pan Pac on Thursday afternoon. The site is open again on Friday as normal.

A lengthy orange heavy rain warning was earlier issued for Hawke’s Bay by MetService, extending from Whirinaki and Esk Valley in the north into Central Hawke’s Bay.

The rain is expected to increase again on Friday evening and stay heavy until Sunday morning.

SH2 between Whirinaki and Wairoa was closed from 5pm on Thursday after heavy rain caused flooding and slips.

Waka Kotahi Hawke’s Bay / Tairāwhiti system manager Martin Colditz said all parts of the network will be closely monitored.

Ian Macdonald, Hawke’s Bay Civil Defence Emergency Management Group (HBCDEM) controller, said just before 2pm Thursday that he understood people were wary of the weather and he wanted to reassure the public.

He said the emergency mobile alerts would only be used if there was a “life safety issue” and if people needed to evacuate immediately.

“Given the forecast, we don’t think that we are going to need widespread evacuations. There might be some localised ponding that may affect some areas or houses, like it does quite often when we have heavy rain in the Bay,” Macdonald said.

“It is only an orange rain warning, it is not a red warning, which is completely different.”

People who had properties prone to flooding or “ponding” should be preparing themselves and travel should only be undertaken when essential, as the roading network was “fragile”.

“My advice would be to people that if they don’t need to travel over the weekend then don’t, but also I think keeping up with the weather forecast is a key thing,” he said.

Gary Hamilton-Irvine is a Hawke’s Bay-based reporter who covers a range of news topics including business, councils, breaking news and cyclone recovery. He formerly worked at News Corp Australia.