High rainfall makes for a wet end to March

The heavy rain in March has seen rivers around the region reach high levels and cause some damage says Hawke’s Bay Regional Council.

One climate station in north of Wairoa tallied up almost 1000 mm of rain in March, most during last week’s rainfall says Regional Council Climate Scientist Kathleen Kozyniak.

“Most areas have seen double or more of the average March rainfall, triple in the case of Wairoa. Wairoa saw the worst of the rain, such as our Pukeorapa rain gauge site (just west of Mōrere, north of Wairoa), which was in the firing line of many of the showers, receiving 685mm within seven days,” says Dr Kozyniak.

River levels around the region rose sharply, with some reaching the 5% Annual Exceedence Probability (AEP) (long term average of once every 20-year) and even 1% AEP (100-year) levels says Regional Council Regional Asset Manager Martina Groves.

“During the event we saw some rivers rise very sharply, and peak at different times, then begin to recede over the weekend.  Good communications with councils and other organisations enabled advance warnings to be provided in order to plan with road closures and potential evacuations,” says Ms Groves. 

“Our flood protection network around the region held strong and protected communities from widespread significant damage, with crews out 24/7 making sure the pump stations were functioning well, clearing weed off screens and inspecting the assets.  We have, however, seen widespread damage from high river levels, with some bank erosion in places, overtopping of some rural stopbanks, washouts, and damaged culverts.”

See rainfall data for more info.

31 March 2022

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