This afternoon MetService issued a heavy rain warning (red) for the Coromandel Peninsula from tomorrow night, Tuesday 31 January through to 6pm on Wednesday 1 February evening.

The decision to issue the warning has been made by MetService, Waikato Regional Council and Thames-Coromandel Civil Defence.

This type of warning is only given for the most impactful events and, in this case, it has taken into account that our catchments are already heavily saturated from unprecedented rainfall and there is further concern about land stability across our entire district.

This warning runs from Tuesday 31 January evening through to 6pm on Wednesday 1 February, and it links the Coromandel to a similar heavy rain warning MetService has issued for Northland and Auckland.

Our Waikato Regional Council (WRC) will be using the break in weather to fly around the Coromandel to conduct an aerial assessment to identify if there are any areas that may be at risk of debris flow.

“This warning is important as much as it is precautionary,” says Civil Defence Controller Garry Towler.

“We have expert advice from WRC that land could give way at any time, due to the total saturation of our catchments. The more informed people are about this, the better decisions they can make. We have had over 1.3 meters of rain so far this year, so this is unknown territory for all of us,” he adds.

We will post more information and detail over the next 24 hours. In the meantime, Civil Defence are urging everyone to heed the warning and use the break in the weather to prepare, check drains, gutters and take a precautionary look around your section. If you live on a hillside, check for any cracks have developed or widened over the past week.

We urge you to stay at home, and not to travel.

Road conditions: We urge you not to travel and stay home.

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