Families evacuated, roads closed as flooding hits Gisborne suburb

Heavy rain overnight caused severe surface flooding in the Gisborne suburb of Mangapapa, forcing some families to leave their homes.

Tairāwhiti Civil Defence says heavy rain caused drains to flood and creeks to rise to about 2m, causing severe surface flooding across the suburb.

Police have been going door-to-door checking on people.

Fire and Emergency has closed roads in and around the areas from Lytton High School to Winter Street.

Gisborne mayor Rehette Stoltz said severe downpours started at 3am, and three hours later it was still “absolutely pouring”.

“The rain woke everyone up in Gisborne,” Stoltz told Morning Report.

“It’s rain I have not heard in my 22 years in Gisborne.”

MetService has extended its orange heavy rain warning for Gisborne City to 1pm.

Stoltz said city creeks were overflowing and flooding people’s homes.

The Matokitoki Stream which ran through several neighbourhoods had received so much rain it was causing flooding in the city, in areas not hit by Cyclone Gabrielle, she said.

Gisborne Civil Defence said 15 households were evacuated overnight.

The latest deluge, following Cyclone Gabrielle, was likely to have caused damage to properties and stormwater inundation, Gisborne District Council chief executive and Civil Defence spokesperson Nedine Thatcher Swann said.

“We just haven’t had a break in this weather to get in and remediate everything.

“The ground is saturated, we’re watching our rivers, and the our creeks are behaving in different way.

“It’s pretty big for us here.”

Overnight about 40mm of rain fell over two hours, she said. It was a surprise that flooding was concentrated in Mangapapa, which had not been affected by flooding in recent years.

“I guess this is part and parcel of what we’d be expecting as our climate changes. We’re seeing rain fall in concentrated areas and in different parts.”

Hawke’s Bay

More rain fell overnight in Hawke’s Bay with reports of flooding in some areas.

MetService has issued an orange heavy rain warning for the Hawke’s Bay district of Waiora district to 2pm.

Napier mayor Kirsten Wise said there were reports of flooding in the city and people should stay off the roads where possible.