Weather: Gisborne on high alert with more torrential rain on the way, some Waikato residents spend night bailing water

Some Waikato residents spent the night bailing water after heavy rain pelted the region overnight. 

Fire and Emergency New Zealand (FENZ) attended at least 12 weather-related jobs, including flooded properties in Hamilton. Fortunately, no situations were life-threatening. 

Tairāwhiti Gisborne remains under a state of emergency with a red heavy rain warning issued and concerns the rainfall will intensify on Friday night. Meanwhile, a series of orange rain warnings and watches have been issued for the east of the North Island and top of the South Island.

The wild weather is also causing travel disruptions across the North Island with state highways closed and buses cancelled. 

Other parts of the North Island remain on alert, including Gisborne and the East Coast, which is under a state of emergency and a "red" heavy rain warning until at least Sunday. 

There were multiple landslips and burst rivers across Tairāwhiti on Thursday, leading to some evacuations mainly in Te Karaka, northwest of Gisborne city.

According to Gisborne Mayor Rehette Stoltz, it's the worst thing to happen to a community already badly damaged by Cyclone Gabrielle earlier this year.

"We had heavy rain overnight," Stoltz told AM on Friday. "It eased down a little bit, as expected - but we do know MetService is predicting heavy rain that it's going to start picking up around lunchtime, and we're expecting the heaviest rain around 6pm.

"People are anxious, people are tired, people are frustrated - for most of this year we've either been in emergency response or recovery. We are trying to connect our really fragile roading network, trying to get people back to running their businesses as they want to."

In an update on Friday morning, Tairāwhiti Civil Defence said welfare centres have been set up at Poho-o-Rawiri Marae, House of Breakthrough in the city, Ohako Marae (Manutuke), Mangatu Marae (Whatatutu) and Te Karaka Area School.

It said over 100 homes are without power and 13 rural schools and four early childhood centres have closed for the day.

Meanwhile, Hamilton City Council said they responded to 34 calls overnight about the heavy rainfall and resulting flooding.

Based on MetService data, the city saw 80 percent of the average rainfall for June in the past 28 hours.

"Council is proactively working with FENZ, to investigate the extent of any flooding, properties impacted and what needs to be done," infrastructure operations general manager Eeva-Liisa Wright said.

Multiple regions remain under MetService's severe weather warnings. Coromandel and as far south as Marlborough have also been told to expect heavy rain in the coming days.

"On Saturday there is a high confidence in warning amounts of rain for Gisborne, much of Hawke's Bay and the east of Marlborough," MetService said in its severe weather outlook.

"There is moderate confidence in warning amounts of rain for Coromandel Peninsula, Bay of Plenty, the remainder of Marlborough and Nelson.

"Note that the heavy rain may affect Gisborne, Hawke's Bay and possibly the Coromandel Peninsula for many days and could damage… roads and cause slips."

Weather warnings and watches issued:

Tairāwhiti Gisborne remains under a red heavy rain warning until Sunday morning, with the heaviest rain expected on Friday evening.

"Expect 200 to 250 mm of rain to accumulate about and north of Tolaga Bay, 100 to 150 mm of rain about the ranges farther south, and 50 to 100 mm of rain about coastal areas south of Tolaga Bay. These amounts are in addition to the rain that has already fallen," MetService said.

The weather forecasting agency also warned thunderstorms will be possible in the region on Friday.

An orange heavy rain warning has been issued for areas of Hawke's Bay, Tasman and Marlborough.

Meanwhile, a heavy rain watch has been issued Coromandel Peninsula and Bay of Plenty west of Te Puke.

Travel Disruptions

The severe weather has disrupted travel networks across the North Island.

Waka Kotahi has closed a number of state highways due to flooding and slips. These include SH2 Matawai to Ormond, SH5 Taupō to Eskdale and SH35 between the intersections of Kemp Rd and Tapuaeroa Rd. 

SH2 Napier to Wairoa was closed, however, it has since been reopened.

While in the South Island, Waka Kotahi is reminding drivers to take care on the roads. The agency said the weather will affect State Highway 1 as far south as Kaikōura and State Highway 60 in Tākaka/Golden Bay.  

Numerous roads in Tairāwhiti have also closed.

InterCity, New Zealand's national bus network, cancelled eight inter-regional services on Friday due to the wild weather. The cancellations impact Central North Island, Hawkes Bay and Gisborne Regions. 

Cancelled Services for Friday:

• 6211     Auckland – Gisborne  
• 6224     Gisborne - Rotorua 
• 6965     Gisborne - Napier 
• 6966     Napier - Gisborne 
• 7103     Taupo - Hastings 
• 6606     Hastings – Taupo  
• 6602     Hastings - Hamilton 
• 6609     Hamilton – Hastings