Lewis Ferris and Tania Gibson: Metservice meteorologist and Greymouth mayor on the heavy rain and flooding impacting Wellington region

Surface flooding is continuing in the wider Wellington region, with commuters bracing for more downpours.

High tides are coinciding with torrential rain to spell a perfect storm of disruption, and motorists are being warned to expect delays.

Metservice forecaster Lewis Ferris says the rain is persisting, but the worst should have passed.

"It does look like the heaviest of the rain is kind of on that easing trend. There are still some showers around, it's not going to be that same sort of widespread, intense rainfall that we saw around dawn."

Meanwhile in Greymouth, landslides fuelled by the recent bad weather have left residents out of power. 

About 50 homes are cut off in Arnott Heights - with a second slump this morning adding more debris.

Mayor Tania Gibson says contractors have been delivered residents essentials like medication.

"But anything that's not essential - I think they're pretty right, we're in close contact - they just need to hold out and wait up there for a bit longer."

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Nine nine two is the text number standard text fees supply.
We'll talk to the huddle about it later on. Now,
there is quite a bit of wet weather going on
at the moment. The Lower North Island and parts of
the South Island have been thrashed by heavy rain and
flooding today and more is yet to come. There is
a major slip blocking off a community of more than
fifty homes in Graymouth. Waterways and Carpety and Portada are
now a big concern because more heavy rain is expected

(00:22):
over the next few hours. Met Service meteorologist Lewis Ferris
is with us now.

Speaker 2 (00:26):
Hey, Lewis Kyoto. Yes, a very busy start to this
working week on the weather front.

Speaker 3 (00:31):
Yeah, what are you expecting in Wellington yet to come?

Speaker 2 (00:34):
Well, it does look like the heaviest of the rain
is kind of on that easing trend. There are still
some showers around They could bring some localized heavy rain,
but it's not going to be that same sort of widespread,
intense rainfall that we saw through the early hours of
this morning around dawn, So that's kind of some good news,
But there is still further rain onto those saturated soils
and it's not just today. As we head into tomorrow,

(00:55):
we will see some more rain. Even this week, it's
still looking very unsettled in terms of weather fronts coming
along the west coast of the South Arm then moving
on to the North Arm. So it's not the last
rain that we're going to see this week, Lewis.

Speaker 1 (01:08):
What is it about the rain that fell in Wellington
that was so special? I mean, it's not as if
Wellington doesn't cope with its fair fair share of wet weather,
So why did this cause so much trouble?

Speaker 2 (01:17):
It was just the intensity of it. So it was
a lot of stations saw over ten millimeters of rain
in an hour. Some got up over that twenty millimeters
of rain, and it was kind of that rain, those
sorts of rain rates that were around for about that
three hour time So most urban areas aren't really going
to cope with seeing that high intensity rainfall over a

(01:41):
sort of three hour time space. That's when we're going
to start seeing surface flooding. That's when we're going to
start seeing especially waterways come up very quickly. Yes, you're right,
Wellington isn't the driest place on Earth, but it is
when we're seeing these sorts of rain rates into urban
areas where we do start to see areas, areas start
to see flooding, and other areas start to be affected.

Speaker 3 (02:01):
Lewis, what about the West Coast, are they going to
copper break?

Speaker 2 (02:05):
Not really, just with this very active weather pattern coming
from the west, that does look like Graymouth will probably
see some more rain. And the rainfall that fell sort
of in the last twenty four hours, it wasn't a
huge amount, but over the last sort of two weeks,
I've just sort of had a steady amount of rain
just piling in, not every day, but sort of most days.

(02:26):
So it's going to be quite saturated around there. It
is a place that is known for a runoff to
happen quite quickly. But if they are going to see
more rain this week, which they are, it is not
out of the question that similar effects could be seen
around the region.

Speaker 1 (02:38):
Lewis, Thanks for that, man, I really appreciate it. That's
Lewis Ferris met Service meteorologists.

Speaker 3 (02:42):
Now. Graymouth District Council says.

Speaker 1 (02:43):
Road access to that community of more than fifty homes
cut off will remain cut off for the rest of
the evening for tonight. Power fortunately in the area is
back on and Graymouse Mayor Tania Gibson is with us.

Speaker 3 (02:53):
Heitanya, good afternoon. How big is the slip?

Speaker 4 (02:57):
Oh, it's a pretty big one really, and you know,
at the moment it's still moving. So we're just assessing
the situation because the residents and of course the contractors
safety really needs to come into account.

Speaker 1 (03:10):
Right and if it's still moving, that means as long
as it's moving, you can't clear it really a.

Speaker 4 (03:15):
Yes, well, at the moment they have started clearing. But
when they were working on it this morning, it did
come down again, which you know caused a bit of
anxiety at that stage in time. So we did hope
that we could get it open today, but with that happening,
it's just not a possibility.

Speaker 1 (03:29):
Hey, I heard your house got struck by lightning.

Speaker 3 (03:31):
Is that true?

Speaker 4 (03:32):
Oh? Yes, well it was a bit of a fright
last night. It wasn't a major, but yes there was.
We wondered what it was. We thought the roof might
be coming off, and I think this was the same
quick squall that came through and then we had a
bit of burning and some plugs behind the bed that
we had to try and find where that smell was
coming from no way? Is that not a major?

Speaker 1 (03:49):
How did you know, Tanya that something had gone wrong?
Was it the smell of the burning or was there
like a flash or something.

Speaker 4 (03:56):
There was a flash and it was kind of to that. Well,
it did the roof in it and everything was shaping
and it was like a really violent squall that come through.
And I believe that's the same time as aren't it
lost power and had to slip, So it's and then
the burning smell.

Speaker 3 (04:08):
Did you get a sparky round?

Speaker 4 (04:11):
Yes, well, I think we're getting someone around. Someone's taking
care of that for us today and again I tuned
them on and again this morning, and there's a bit
of a burning smell.

Speaker 3 (04:19):
So we're just.

Speaker 4 (04:19):
Checking that out. But it wasn't a major. But the
poor people aren't sites are way more affected.

Speaker 1 (04:24):
Yeah, yeah, Okay, listen, these guys, the fifty homes that
are cut off, not too worried about them. Then they'll
have enough supplies and all that kind of stuff.

Speaker 4 (04:31):
Well, yes, and I know that some of the contractors
have helped a couple of people down the hill today
that needed medication and that they are on standby and
we're all in contact with the residents. If they need
anything like medication that you know, it can be arranged
for the contractors to take that up. But for anything
that's non essential, I think they're pretty right. We're in
close contact, but yeah, they just need to kind of

(04:53):
hold it out and wait up there for a bit longer.

Speaker 1 (04:57):
Good stuff, Tony, You listen, Thank you appreciate it. Best
of Luckily, that's to Gibson, Graymouth, mayor a. Her house
got struck by lightning. That just makes the Maureen Pew
story so much more believable, doesn't it, Because where does
Maureen come from the West Coast. She's been struck by
lightning like gazillion times, and it's often been I think
it's always been in her house actually, so maybe it's
just the thing. If you live in Graymouth or on
the West Coast, just brace yourself for lightning being one

(05:20):
of your big problems. For more from Heather Duplessy, Allen Drive,
listen live to news talks.

Speaker 3 (05:26):
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