Chocolate eclair

And so we are hit with yet another heavy rain event in Northland, Auckland and the west coast of the south island.
The ground is saturated in so many places from the previous weather events this year that it doesn't take long for the flooding to appear.
The rain on the Whangaparaoa Peninsula near to Army bay is much worse than we've had previously and given that drains and culverts haven't been cleared locally for some while, it hasn't taken long for flooding to occur. We have a lake near us and I've never seen it as full as it is now in 16 years.
I feel sorry for those who have had there homes flooded yet again this year.
I believe that there has been a school group trapped in caves up near Whangarei. Hope they manage to get out safely.

Further heavy rain, thunderstorms and possible tornados forecast for later this afternoon until midnight.
Stay safe all.

LittleGreyCat

I am amazed that with the weather forecast anyone would take schoolkids caving.
Flooding is always a risk.

Hoping they are all OK.

I've checked with family and they are fine although potentially cut off.

Hope you are all OK.

Bo-Jangles

So far, so good for us with no more flooding, albeit quite a stressful day listening to the rain absolutely tipping down and expecting the worst. I read somewhere it said: “We're nearly out of the woods, Auckland. Let's get through to 7pm.” It's now 9.45pm and still hammering down, so expect it will be a sleepless night.

Chocolate eclair

Sadly the body of a student has been found this morning. So very sad. I don’t know the circumstances of this party entering the caves, so I'm not going to speculate on that.

Chocolate eclair

Hope it slowed down for you and you managed to get some sleep. I found it very stressful too, we had quite a river flowing down one side of our property and a pond forming near the veggie beds. It was definitely worse for us than with cyclone Gabrielle.

Justcol

Very Sad about the young lad loosing his life in the cave, although you have to question why they were in there in the first place with severe weather alerts all over the place.

We are flying up on Monday. The plan was to visit our old haunts around Arkles bay then head north out of Auckland and have a wee tiki tour break with our granddaughter. That seems to be in tatters at the moment.

Bo-Jangles

It rained all night and then some again today - it is like water torture.

Chocolate eclair

Sorry to hear that. The sun popped out for a small window this afternoon but then heavy rain returned 10 mins later. More rain now plus a bit of thunder for good measure.
Water torture is what it is.

Col....the peninsula is easy enough to get around today, so going to Arkles Bay should be fine. Due Amici in Manly Village is a great place to eat, but you need to book. It's mainly pot holes that you need to watch out for.