Downpours are on the way for the upper North Island, with MetService saying Coromandel can expect 150 to 200 millimetres of rain from 3am tomorrow. Photo: Cole Eastham-Farrelly
Heavy rain warnings for Northland and the Coromandel Peninsula have been upgraded to orange rain warnings as the upper North Island braces for another bout of bad weather.
Heavy rain and high winds are expected to reach Northland by 8pm Saturday before spreading to Auckland, Great Barrier Island and the Coromandel by early morning Sunday.
MetService said Northland could expect 100mm to 140mm from 8pm Saturday, with peak rates up to 25mm and hour initially, but gaining in intensity up to 35mm per hour in some localised spots from late on Sunday morning, and more heavy rain possible into Monday morning
The Coromandel Peninsula could expect 150 to 200 millimetres of rain from 3am Sunday, with peak rates of between 15mm and 25mm an hour from Saturday night.
For both Northland and the Coromandel areas those amounts could cause slips, surface flooding, rapid rises in streams or rivers and dangerous driving conditions.
Heavy rain watches were also in place for Northland, Auckland, Great Barrier Island and the Bay of Plenty west of Kawerau, including Rotorua, from Saturday night, with strong wind watches in place for Auckland (about and north of Albany), Great Barrier Island, Coromandel and eastern Waikato from Sunday morning.
Auckland Council said it was closely monitoring the situation and asked residents to clear drains and gutters ahead of the forecast high winds and heavy rain.
Auckland Emergency Management Duty Controller Rachel Kelleher said the situation was being taken seriously and preparations were being made in case the incoming weather forced people to evacuate.
People in low-lying areas should make a plan in case they needed to leave their homes, and if evacuations were needed centres would be available.
"We are certainly doing the work to make sure that we've got plans in place for a range of different Civil Defence centres or shelters if needed, and that information - if they are stood up - will be advised through our usual social media and website channels," Kelleher said.
The council's emergency management duty team was actively monitoring the weather and keeping in contact with MetService.
Auckland Emergency Management was criticised for its handling of the January floods but said that while no emergency is the same it learned lessons from every emergency event.
"One of the things that we can always do is make sure that we're getting messages out to Aucklanders; it's really important that we share the information we have, which is what we're doing in terms of MetService advice," Kelleher said.
She said Aucklanders also needed to do their part by being prepared.
Vector said its crews were ready to respond to power cuts, and warned people with appliances susceptible to power fluctuations that they should unplug them during the turbulent weather.
Chief operations officer Peter Ryan said staff would work as quickly and safely as they could to restore any cuts.
He also asked people to be patient if Vector needed to stand crews down due to safety concerns.
Ryan said several areas with overhead powerlines were in the spotlight: "They're areas which are typically to the north and west of Auckland, they're the areas that are most susceptible to weather events of high winds compounded by a lot of rain.
"They're the areas that we will be monitoring most closely over the next next 48 hours."