Heavy rain is expected to hit the South Island, putting the dampener on plans for the long weekend.
MetService has issued severe weather warnings across parts of New Zealand, with heavy rain forecast from Sunday morning.
Orange warnings are in place from Sunday for Fiordland, Westland, Buller, Tasman, the Richmond Range in Nelson/Marlborough and Bryant Ranges, including the Rai Valley in Marlborough. Up to 600 millimetres of rain could fall in some areas by Tuesday.
MetService says flooding, slips and dangerous driving conditions were possible, with more warnings likely for the North Island early next week.
Fiordland, north of Charles Sound, could expect 100 to 150 mm of rain in the 12 hours from 6am on Sunday, with thunderstorms possible.
Up to 500mm was forecast to fall in Westland, south of Hokitika, from 2am on Sunday until 8pm on Monday.
Buller was set to get up to 300mm of rain from noon on Sunday until midnight on Monday.
Meanwhile, the headwaters of the Otago lakes and rivers were under a heavy rain watch from 6am until 6pm from Sunday. Periods of heavy rain may approach warning criteria within 15km east of the Divide.
The Canterbury High Country is under a strong wind watch from 5am until 5pm on Sunday. North to northwest winds may approach severe gale in exposed places.
MetService forecaster Gerard Bellam says the Tasman region could expect the most rain.
"We're expecting 350 to 450mm but we might see as much as 600mm about some of the higher peaks there ... we have a moderate chance of this warning area being upgraded to a red warning."
Tasman Mayor Tim King said he was not expecting dramatic amounts of flooding, but rivers would be rising quickly over the long weekend.
"What we are requesting is given [it's] a long weekend, given lots of people are likely to be travelling both around the district and in and out of it, just to bear in mind, keep an eye on the weather, keep an eye on the forecast and council information."
Westland Mayor Helen Lash hoped the heavy rain would be manageable for the region because it was coming over a long period of time.
"This sort of rainfall has the ability to put us through the alarm bells, no two ways about that, but it just depends on that level of rain coming over a longer period of time that will be what saves us at this stage."
MetService said the system would move eastwards over the weekend, and central and northern parts of the North Island would likely also be issued warnings.
Northland was set to be under a heavy rain watch from late on Monday morning until Tuesday.
- additional reporting Allied Media
This story was first published on rnz.co.nz |  |
