Auckland's Eastern Beach during Cyclone Tam. Photo: RNZ / Marika Khabazi
Heavy rain has pelted central New Zealand, with severe thunderstorms possibly on the way, but forecasters say the wild weather created by ex-Tropical Cyclone Tam is beginning to peter out.
Meteorologist Alec Holden said the effects of former Tropical Cyclone Tam were easing, with calmer weather on the cards for the rest of the week.
"It is gradually losing steam, we've seen the worst of the rain at this point, although that does not mean the rain has stopped currently, but we are most certainly on the easing trend," he said.
A new high pressure system would move in over New Zealand from the west during Monday, which would work to bring an end to the heavy rain.
Holden said the Tam weather system had stuck around longer than expected, but the wider cyclone season runs through to the end of April. He said the ocean loses heat slowly, and was only now beginning to dip below the temperature threshold necessary for big, northerly cyclones to form.
Overnight, central New Zealand had a soaking, with Wellington recording 31mm of rain between midnight and 5am on Easter Monday with more rain forecast for the day.
A yellow severe thunderstorm watch is in place for Bay of Plenty, Rotorua, Taupō, Gisborne, Hawke's Bay and Taihape, with forecasters warning the slow-moving weather system is likely to bring downpours and possibly hail, and could lead to surface or flash flooding,
Mid-morning Monday, MetService lifted a series of orange and yellow heavy rain alerts that were issued for large parts of the South Island, but said heavy rain could still fall on Nelson, Marlborough, Canterbury north of the Rakaia River and in the Chatham Islands.
Powercuts continue, some households face sixth day in the dark
In Auckland, there were complaints some households had been without power for six days, since former Tropical Cyclone Tam began rolling in with high winds on Wednesday.
In the Far North, fewer than 100 properties were without power by Monday. About 24,000 properties had been without power in Northland at one point during the storms.
But more than 100 households were still waiting for restored supplies in Matamata and Waihi Beach.
Auckland Emergency Management said they were supporting the lines company Vector's power outage response in their region, doing door knocks and welfare checks at affected homes.
Emergency accommodation had been provided for ten families during the weekend.
There were 16 inspections where flooding had been reported, Auckland Council said, and there would be visits this week to another 50 properties where lesser impacts had been reported.
So far, none meet the criteria of being stickered red or yellow.
Auckland lines company Vector said crews had again worked through the night and staff from other areas were being brought in to help repair faults in the worst-hit areas. It did not say how many households were affected.
Fixing some of the faults was tricky, the company said, especially for areas with lots of trees, as it was like finding a needle in a haystack. Substantial progress was made on Sunday to clear the backlog, but some power might not be restored until Tuesday.
Suburbs with problems included west Auckland, rural areas between Puhoi and Dairy Flat, South Head, Devonport and other pockets on the North Shore.
Highways affected, and sewage overflows
A slip at the foot of the Brynderwyn Hills, between Northland and Auckland, was cleared by late morning Monday and both lanes were back to operating as normal.
Debris from the slip had blocked the southbound lane of State Highway One, between State Highway 12 and Artillery Road.
Whangārei District Mayor Vince Cocurullo said he understood a vehicle was hit by debris from the slip.
He was relieved the road had reopened, particularly because many people were travelling for the holiday weekend.
Last year, the road was closed for four months, due to slips.
North of Westport, overnight flooding had closed Stage Highway 67 between Hector and Mokihinui, but it was reopened by mid-morning Monday. Buller deputy mayor Andrew Basher said there had been no flooding in Westport town and, by mid-morning, the sun had come out.
Wellington Water said wastewater had overflowed at Wellington's Moa Point, Seaview and Titahi Bay treatment plants, due to the heavy rain, with a warning to stay out of the water for 2-3 days after the heavy rain ends.
The Moa Point plant went over capacity just after 3am Monday, discharging screened water through its outlet 1.8km south off the coast of Lyall Bay.
Wastewater was also discharged into Titahi Bay at Porirua and, just after 4am Monday, the Seaview plant reached capacity and released the excess into Waiwhetū Stream, although in these two cases, the water was fully treated.
Unusual visitor arrives in Auckland garage after heavy rains
West Auckland caught another quick lashing from a belt of thunderstorms on Sunday evening, when mobile alerts were sent out.
Firefighters attended eight weather callouts, and reported flooding that affecting properties in the western suburbs of Titirangi and Green Bay.
Aucklander Ryan Baker was scratching his head over how an eel found its way into his garage during Sunday night's heavy rain.
Heavy rains in Auckland set the scene for a strange visitor in Mt Roskill. Photo: DOC
The Mount Roskill resident said, while there was a creek nearby, the downpours only brought minor flooding onto their lawn to about ankle height, so the eel would have had to climb a 10cm rise at the door to get inside, he said.
"We leave the door open during the day sometimes, because the cats can come in and out, but it must have just decided to migrate, that it was going to migrate through the garage - unsuccessfully - and then it got spotted, before it got stuck somewhere."
Baker said they managed to pick up the slippery fish to return it to the nearby creek.
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