Weather: looming storm in the Tasman Sea brings more bad weather

Tougher weather is forecast to hit the lower North Island today with a storm coming from the Tasman Sea.

Yesterday, residents of a small Porirua community were evacuated from their homes when flash floods sent rivers of water through residential streets.

About 15 homes were left uninhabitable and locals had to clean muddy streets after a perfect storm hit the Karehana Bay area in Plimmerton.

The flooding also stopped traffic in and out of the region on State Highway 1, as the water filled the Plimmerton roundabout area and caused the main road north of Wellington to close.

MetService forecaster Aiden Pyselman warned that the deluge was not over. There was another front coming in, bringing more rain.

“Tomorrow there is a storm coming from the Tasman Sea,” he said.

A heavy rain watch has been set for the Wellington and Tararua Range region, and winds are forecast to reach gusts of up to 110 km / h.

A social assistance point for displaced residents has been established at the Plimmerton Fire Station.

Pyselman said Porirua recorded 49mm of rain between 2am and 11am, while nearby areas recorded between 65mm and 74mm.

Porirua received more than 38mm of that rain from 7am to 11am

“It was actually quite scary, because it came up so fast,” said a woman this afternoon, still shocked by how quickly the flooding occurred.

“It is absolutely terrible.”

She was one of the “lucky ones”, and the water only reached the door.

Further along the highway, people found dirty brown water entering their houses as it ran like a river down the street, opening the manhole covers and flowing through the undercarriages of parked cars.

Another resident said she lived on a hill, but had gone to visit a friend whose entire house was flooded with up to 16 inches of water.

Porirua Mayor Anita Baker said she had “never seen so much water” in the area around Karehana Park.

“That has gone up before because it has a small jet, but never like this. I had never seen it so bad in my time.”