Two Taranaki schools managed to escape rising floodwaters damaging classrooms after heavy rainfall over the long weekend.
Ōpunake High School was knee-deep in water after heavy rainfall over Waitangi weekend. Photo: Facebook / Ōpunake High School
On Sunday, New Plymouth saw the equivalent of a typical July's-worth of rainfall in just four hours.
A red rain warning was issued for Taranaki for part of the day and streets quickly became rivers.
"Like a swimming pool, literally, it's trapped" - Ōpunake High School principal Andrea Hooper
Ōpunake High School was knee-deep in water and principal Andrea Hooper told Morning Report the water was within millimetres of entering classroom doors and walls.
"We managed to escape it doing any damage, there's just a bit of damage - one of our buildings is a bit leaky which we're still hassling the ministry to help us support renovate, so that lost a few ceiling tiles just in the saturation, but basically the school itself managed to do okay, which is a miracle."
The caretaker who had arrived in the morning also helped relieve pressure on the system, she said.
"Without that, we would've absolutely flooded, [we're] fortunate he was there at the right time."
They had not anticipated for so much heavy rainfall, she said, so they had not prepared.
Rahotu Primary School in western Taranaki also resembled a river yesterday as flooding took over the school grounds.
The school, which is about 40 minutes from the city, is closed today.
"It certainly has been a wild, windy, wet Waitangi weekend for us" - Rahotu Primary School principal Brigitte Luke
Principal Brigitte Luke told Morning Report the sewage system was struggling with the shear amount of water.
"We've obviously had excessive flooding at the school, which means the fields are pretty saturated.
"We were really lucky it was all diverted down the side thanks to our fire brigade, and our caretaker did a fantastic job packing the sand out of the sandpit.
"The soil is just sodden and there's a lot of debris over the bottom field, bits of pieces that have come under the building."
Luke said the school was aiming to be reopen tomorrow depending on safety assessments.
But the historic Parihaka settlement in coastal Taranaki had suffered damage as a result of flooding.
In a Facebook post, Parihaka Papakāinga Trust chair Tuhi-Ao Bailey said some whare were flooded, water lines broken, and culverts damaged.
The river bank behind Toroānui marae had also been affected.
The settlement remains cut off from the coast until an engineering assessment is done on the Mid Parihaka Road bridge - where water had flooded across the top of the bridge.
La Niña expected to bring warm temperatures for most of next three months - NIWA
NIWA meteorologist Chris Brandolino told Morning Report it would be a warm and humid week for the North Island.
"There could be some spots later this week in the Manawatu, maybe parts of Hawke's Bay, that maybe exceed 30 degrees.
But downpours today over the North Island were expected to wane over the next two days before more rain settled in, Brandolino said. The South Island could expect to see continued heavy rain, he said.
Tropical airflow and La Niña conditions could trigger heavy rainfall anywhere from Taranaki to Auckland on Friday, he said.
"We'll see temperatures with a warm lean for much of the next three months" - NIWA meteorologist Chris Brandolino
It may impact also parts of the West Coast on the South Island in the middle of the week, he said.
"In terms of looking for some cool southerlies, there'll be a puff of cool air later this week, that'll impact the South Island ... but that'll be fleeting, we'll see temperatures with a warm lean for much of the next three months, at least that's NIWA's expectation."
West Coast residents have just breathed a sigh of relief over the weekend, with earlier dire weather not causing the damage expected.
"Most of the rivers are back down" - Buller District Council Mayor Jamie Cleine
Buller District Council Mayor Jamie Cleine told Morning Report there would be a technical team meeting later today to assess whether the new forecast would need to be on the radar too.
"But at the moment, it's looking like not weather that we wouldn't get at various times of the year at this stage.
"Most of the rivers are back down [after earlier heavy rain], still a bit dirty but they're well within safe levels, and still a bit of a clean-up underway."
He said the region had to be prepared for more of these weather events, with a work plan underway for flooding defences.
"That's a major project, I think it's something like 14km of stopbanking so they've certainly got that underway in terms of planning and will be looking to that over the next year or so."