Crashes as wild weather hits

A total of nine crashes were reported in the Western Bay of Plenty area as heavy rain caused flooding and made driving conditions treacherous across the region.

Western Bay of Plenty road policing manager, Senior Sergeant Ian Campion says most of the crashes were caused by people not driving to conditions.

“We had a total of nine crashes around the Western Bay of Plenty area and a number of those were as a result of people just not driving to the conditions.

“There was quite a bit of surface flooding around.”
He says people were just not taking the level care they needed to and “that’s often the way”.

The lower end of Poike Road, near Roxanne Place, remains closed today, with businesses in the nearby industrial precinct forced to park on the highway.

Heavy rain has also swollen the Waimapu Stream and flooded the Greerton rugby grounds, and the stream itself is running bank to bank.

However, the city is expected to dry out after experiencing 50mm of rain yesterday and 111mm in the last 24 hours.

MetService meteorologist Dan Corbett Tauranga is predicted to experience more showery weather today before it starts to dry out in the next 24 hours.

There’s still heavy rain moving south west across the Kaimais and Waikato towards Taupo today, and the Gisborne ranges which were deluged with 100mm overnight, can expect another 12-18 of persistent rain.

Dan says another low should develop over northern New Zealand then move slowly towards the southeast.

A strong to gale northeast airstream is expected to gradually spread rain over the northeast of the North Island during this period.

While most heavy rain in the Western Bay of Plenty has passed, Tauranga is expected to be muggy, with humidity at 100 per cent and the air will remain saturated for some time.

Traffic backed up along Papamoa Beach Road due to the closure of one lane on SH2.

Flooding along SH2 in Papamoa.

People are being forced to park on the highway due to flooded in the end of Poike Road.

The Greerton rugby grounds are flooded from heavy rain.