Heavy rainfall impacts continue to be felt in Waikato region

Some river paths in Hamilton will be inaccessible due to rising water levels on the Waikato River.

Waikato Regional Council and power company Mercury are working together to manage flows in the Waikato Hydro System in response to the recent rain, as well as forecast wet weather later this week. 

To create storage through the system, the Karāpiro dam will be discharging at maximum consented flow of 500 cumecs for at least the next 12 to 24 hours, said Rick Liefting, Waikato Regional Council’s Regional Resilience Team Leader. 

“That means water levels will rise downstream of Karāpiro. In Hamilton, some river paths will be under water and the Grantham Street car park may also be inaccessible due to flooding,” Mr Liefting said.

“The Waipā River is also continuing to rise naturally as a result of the recent rain. Combined with the higher levels on the Waikato River, it means flows downstream of Ngāruawāhia will also be high.

“The good news is that we are still well within the capacity of our flood protection schemes despite the high flows, and all our modelling at this time indicates that homes will not be impacted,” Mr Liefting said.

Across the rest of the Waikato region, catchments are still very saturated, with river and stream levels high and in some cases still increasing.

MetService is forecasting more rain over the region on Thursday and Friday, with increased rain intensity for the Coromandel Peninsula area. 

While the forecast amounts may not reach warning criteria, parts of the region and communities should be aware of the possibility for further flooding and landslip impacts, especially in the Coromandel Peninsula, Mr Liefting said.

Waikato Regional Council uses a flood forecast model to predict water levels and flows along the Waipā and Waikato rivers. A table showing the predicted maximum flows and levels over the next 24 hours for specific sites has been published on Flood Room Live – waikatoregion.govt.nz/flood-room. 

Levels will be reviewed again tomorrow for the next 24-hour period and the information published on Flood Room Live.