Deep low looming for Manawatu¯

It looks as if Manawatu¯ ’s big dry is over. Intensive thunderstorms that soaked parts of the region on Wednesday afternoon and caused surface flooding on the streets of Palmerston North and Feilding heralded even more rain over the next couple of days.

Metservice said Wednesday’s thunderstorms provided a short sharp taste of things to come, as a deep low would track down from the north and right across the region today, bringing moderate to heavy rain and strong winds, along with a muggy high of 26 degrees Celsius.

The rain pelted down again in Palmerston North yesterday afternoon. And there’s a heavy rain warning for the Tararua Range today from 10am to 10pm. The intensity could peak at up to 25 millimetres an hour, with up to 120mm of rain in total.

A strong-wind watch for Taihape was also upgraded to a full warning.

Tomorrow was expected to be cooler with occasional rain, strong southerlies and a relatively chilly overnight minimum of 12C.

Metservice spokesman Ciaran Doolin said Wednesday’s heaviest fall of 36.9mm in an hour was recorded at the Palmerston North Airport weather station.

‘‘That’s what we’d call a downpour. Any rainfall over 36mm in an hour is a lot.’’

Doolin said there were quite a few other heavy falls around the region associated with significant thunderstorm activity.

‘‘It was all over in about an hour.’’

He said several stations recorded more than 20mm of rain during the period.

Fire and Emergency NZ trucks responded to surface flooding calls in Feilding and Palmerston North, as the water ponded in Feilding’s Sherwill St West and in Palmerston North’s Churchill Ave, among other places.

Palmerston North’s stormwater asset engineer JP Mccartin said the cloudburst was monitored using the city council’s electronic rain gauges, with the heaviest rain falling in just 10 minutes and peaking over the suburbs of Milson and Hokowhitu about 5.20pm.

He said the intensity of the downpour exceeded the capacity of the pipes in some areas.

‘‘If it had happened evenly over the hour, we could have handled it.’’

Mccartin said no homes were flooded, ‘‘though it was a close thing in a couple of areas’’.

Manawatu¯ District Council spokesman Jim Mestyanek said the council call centre received water-related calls about 4.30pm, the time the thunderstorm hit the area, but if there were any issues of significance they were referred directly to the council’s contractor and resolved.

As for drought-stricken farmers, Federated Farmers Manawatu¯-rangitikei president Richard Morrison said although any rain was a godsend, it was too early to say whether enough would fall to restore pasture growth or lift drought status from the region.

Thunderstorms were quite hit and miss, with many farms missing out.

‘‘One good dose of rain will prepare the ground, and food and feed crops will respond really quickly, but grass will need a good soaking of an inch [25mm] and then a couple of similar follow-ups.’’

No matter the amount of rain now, Morrison said that because the dry came early, it would still have a delayed effect on next season’s growth.