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Flooding in the Nelson/Tasman area earlier this month. Photo Credit: Nelson Marlborough Helicopter Rescue.
The MetService is forecasting more heavy rain for an already sodden Nelson/Tasman region from late Friday.
It has been just under two weeks since the region was hit with flooding, which forced some farmers to dump milk. The New Zealand Transport Agency has only managed to open the area of State Highway 6 between Rai Valley and Blenheim this morning, with other sections of the highway set to open tomorrow morning, weather permitting.
MetService meteorologist Stephen Glassey says Westland could see over 300mm of rain and 50 to 70mm could hit the ranges near Nelson and northern Marlborough.
“This amount of rain wouldn’t normally cause too many problems in Nelson and Marlborough but because they have already had extreme amounts of rain recently it could lead to more slips,” Glassey says.
Nelson and Blenheim have already beaten their wettest winters on record by considerable margins, receiving close to three times their averages for winter.
Nelson Airport has recorded over 700mm rain since the beginning of June, beating their previous record of 570mm in 1970. Meanwhile, Woodbourne Airport in Blenheim has had approximately 560mm this winter, beating their previous record of 377mm in 2010.
Orange Heavy Rain Warnings and Watches are likely to be issued for the West Coast, Tasman, Nelson and Marlborough regions in the coming days.
With adverse weather set to rain down on the Top of the South, the Bay of Plenty and parts of Northland, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay says farmers, foresters, and growers need to prepare for possible challenges.
Rural Communities Minister Mark Patterson says the present weather conditions remain challenging for farmers.
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Merging MetService and NIWA is the right thing to do, but independent weather forecaster Phil Duncan of WeatherWatch says he isn’t sure a merged entity will boost rural weather forecasting.
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