Dry Spell Ends

Tawa’s spell of thirty-one days without rain came to an abrupt end this morning.

Thursday, 5th May 2016

Tawa’s unseasonal spell of dry autumn weather ended with heavy bursts of rain and surface flooding this morning.

The last rain recorded by Tawa Weather fell on April 3rd (1 mm), with 20 mm having been recorded on April 2nd. A long dry spell followed until Sunday 24th April when drizzle dampened the grass but didn’t register in the rain gauge.

The dry conditions persisted until early this morning when forecast rain began falling steadily. Intense bursts of rain at 8:25, 10:05, 11:20 and 12:05 caused problems with high run-off from bone dry clay soils. 11mm fell during the downpour at 8:25 a.m. and the burst of rain at 10:05 was most sustained, adding another 13mm.

Tawa Weather recorded 55mm for the day to mid-afternoon. The weather station at Linden recorded 68.1mm

The intense rain caused minor problems in Tawa with basements flooded, surface flooding at Collins Avenue, and Kenepuru Drive was closed for much of the day by flooding. Porirua and Titahi Bay were most affected by the intense rain, with several suburban streets flooded, some schools closed, and flooding on the Mana Esplanade. Streets were flooded at Porirua’s Mega Centre and Titahi Bay Road was under water in several places.

The fire stations at Tawa, Porirua, Titahi Bay, and Plimmerton were busy with callouts to flooded properties all morning, and calls had to be assigned to stations at Johnsonville, Newlands and Wellington’s Thorndon station to meet demand. Volunteers at Tawa’s station were assigned 17 calls in Tawa and the Porirua basin.

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