Source: Radio New Zealand
Flooding in Ōakura. Supplied
Storm-hit parts of northern New Zealand are bracing for strong winds that MetService warns could topple trees on sodden ground.
The weekend’s forecast is for drier conditions for rescue and recovery operations that are underway, though there will be showers.
Meanwhile, a scientist said the country could see wetter summers.
Climate change could “potentially enhance summer rainfall extremes”, Chris Brandolino, principal scientist at Earth Sciences New Zealand, formerly NIWA, told Summer Report on Friday.
By Friday morning, a tropical low had moved clear of the Chatham Islands, where a heavy rain watch had been lifted.
Whitianga Campground was flooded. Charlotte Cook
Strong winds were expected ahead in the Northland, Auckland, Coromandel and Bay of Plenty.
“Especially on Saturday and Sunday, those very strong westerly to southwesterly winds look like they move through that area, and of course, with that ground already quite sodden, trees and things like that, it won’t take very much wind for those maybe to topple over,” meteorologist Mmathapelo Makgabutlane told Summer Report.
The winds were not likely to be strong enough to justify a warning, said MetService’s website, and the same applied for the rain forecast for Southland and parts of Otago, Marlborough and Banks Peninsula.
A severe thunderstorm watch was put in place on Friday morning for Christchurch and the Canterbury plains and high country, with localised heavy rain and large hail forecast from 1.30pm until 9pm on Friday.
Gisborne Civil Defence has been warning that finer weather does not mean the risks have disappeared.
“One of the biggest dangers are landslides. They can happen without warning, often triggered by heavy rain but may also occur in the period following the storm, even if the weather looks fine,” it said online
“We have reports of people walking over landslides to collect water and food from welfare hubs. Please don’t,” it posted.
The northern end of Tairāwhiti had copped a lot of rain, it said.
Brandolino, while talking about the triggers for this week’s flooding in the northern North Island, said as seas got warmer, climate drivers like El Niño and La Niña – the latter of which NZ is currently in – had their effects exacerbated.
“Put simply, there is more water vapour in the air that is the fuel for heavy rain.”
This made storms more likely, more frequent and more intense, he said.
Countless slips on the Russell-Whakapara Road near Ōakura are being cleaned up by contractors making the road, previously known as Old Russell Road, passable with care. RNZ / Peter de Graaf
La Niña already loaded the dice from airflows over New Zealand from the tropics and subtropics, for more rain in the north and east of the North Island.
Some models suggested a warming Tasman Sea could also affect the tropics, in turn making for wetter summers here, said Brandolino.
“The intensity’s growing.”
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
