NZ News
‘Act now’: Red warning as 320mm of rain looks set to hit North Island
Up to 320mm of rain could fall in Northland in 48 hours from 4pm this afternoon, MetService is warning.
A number of other watches and warnings are in place across the country in what MetService is calling an “impactful” weather event.
MetService meteorologist John Law said the heaviest rainfall was expected from Northland to Bay of Plenty and its intensity and duration would bring “threat to life from dangerous river conditions, significant flooding, and slips”.
“A red warning signifies that people need to act now as immediate action is required to protect people, animals and property from the impact of the weather. People should also be prepared to follow the advice of official authorities and emergency services,” he said in a statement.
It was the third red level warning MetService had issued this year.
Conditions would disrupt travel, make some roads impassable, and isolate communities, it said.
The remainder of Northland is under an orange level rain warning with 150mm to 250mm of rain forecast over the same period.
MetService said there was a high chance this will be upgraded to a red level warning.
Thunderstorms are possible in the area on Thursday afternoon, it said.
Warnings and watches are in place across the country. Photo: MetService / Screenshot
MetService said the escalation to a red warning came as a deep area of low pressure from the sub-tropics approached New Zealand.
“In addition to the heavy rain, this is likely to be a multi-hazard event spanning several days with heavy rain, strong winds and large waves also expected.”
Orange level heavy rain warnings are also in place for Great Barrier Island, Auckland from Whangaparaoa northwards and Coromandel Peninsula from the early hours of Thursday morning and into Friday.
In Bay of Plenty, west of Whakatāne, an orange warning is also in place with up to 250mm of rain forecast from 9am on Thursday until 3am on Saturday.
Tauranga City Council said there was an increased risk of landslides given the recent weather.
Eight people – six at Mount Maunganui and two at Pāpāmoa – died in slips during heavy rain earlier this year.
The council said if a landslide occurred or anyone who spotted signs of ground movement should evacuate immediately. If lives were at risk call 111, it said.
The rain may cause surface flooding and rapidly rising streams and rivers so people should avoid low-lying areas and be cautious, it said.
The council said its team would be available 24/7 and people could call 07 577 7000 to report an issue.
Orange level strong wind warnings are in place for Northland from 9pm Wednesday until 11pm on Thursday and for Auckland and Great Barrier Island from 8am Thursday until 1am Friday with 120km/h gusts forecast.
South Island warnings
In the South Island, orange level heavy rain warnings are in place for Tasman west of Motueka from 10am Thursday to midday Friday and Richmond and the Bryant Ranges from 6pm Thursday to midday Friday.
Meteorologist Silvia Martino said the impacts might not be seen right away.
“This will be a long event, it carries on for a couple of days, so while we might not get to warning amounts [today], we are expecting over time that rain to build up to warning levels.”
Earlier on Wednesday, she explained forecasters would be working with local authorities to determine if a red warning was needed.
“The decision about whether to go to a red warning is one that’s made based on what the impacts are likely to be.
“What our expert forecasters will be doing is talking to the council, talking to people on the ground about what the impacts are expected to be from the amount of rain we’re forecasting, and then together they’ll make the decision about whether a red warning is appropriate.
“With the heavy rain, we’re looking out for the risk of surface flooding, of possibly areas being cut off, and reminding people to avoid floodwaters. If you can avoid travel then that’s for the best.”
Clear the gutters, put anything away that could be a source of danger from wind, Martino said.
Source: RNZ
Latest News
Opportunities to mitigate multi-million-dollar RNZ budget blowout likely missed – experts
Multiple opportunities to identify and mitigate a multi-million-dollar budget blowout at RNZ appear have been missed, according to the former executive director at Audit New Zealand.
The public broadcaster on Monday revealed a near $12 million shock financial loss after a litany of financial blunders, which will now lead to sweeping job cuts.
The $11.8m loss is more than 25 times the $470,000 RNZ had expected to lose over the year to June.
CEO Paul Thompson took responsibility for the result, and said internal reports gave an inaccurate picture of the finances, meaning the scale of the loss only became clear in October.
RNZ’s former chief financial officer Hilary Parker resigned unexpectedly in early October.
The board said it would commission an independent review into what went wrong.
Independent contractor Stephen Walker, who left the Audit Office earlier this year, said the size of the loss was surprising, as was the length of time it took to identify it – months after the financial year ended.
Supplied / OAG
“Probably more of a concern is that they had seemingly been unaware that they were running up a significant deficit until they were in the preparation stage of their annual report in October.”
Walker said public entities typically produced monthly financial reports.
An interim audit also took place before the end of the financial year, he said, but if the organisation hadn’t identified significant losses at that stage, the auditor could also be in the dark.
“It seems that there’s a real weakness in forecasting and budgeting that’s occurred here and that the monthly accounts, when they’re produced, either haven’t identified these significant variances against budget or the magnitude of them really hasn’t come to light until right towards the end of the financial year,” Walker said.
“And really at that point, there’s no opportunity for the chief executive, the leadership team to take, and the board to take, any corrective action because the year has effectively been completed.”
Walker said the “significant miss” was difficult to account for given it was more than 10 percent of RNZ’s total funding.
He said based on RNZ’s annual report, financial complexity didn’t appear to be a factor.
“This $11.8m loss isn’t made up of one particular item … it seems to have been contributed to by a number of separate expense lines running over budget. So I don’t think it’s necessarily to do with complexity.”
Among the errors, RNZ wrongly counted $2m from land sales as income in its budget. Staff costs also came in $3.2m over budget, including $1.4m in redundancy payments.
Professor at Auckland University’s business school Norman Wong said based on media reports the issues identified were “significant and troubling”.
Supplied / University of Auckland
“But recognising the sale of land as income in their budget is a basic error that one would have expected to have been caught and corrected well before it got to this point.”
With funding reductions at RNZ over the past two years, Walker expected greater scrutiny of financial results.
“Virtually every public entity has had their annual budget reduced. And so you would expect … the leadership team on a monthly basis and board – I’m not sure how frequently the board will consider the information – but you would expect them to be interrogating the results on a regular basis throughout the year,” he said.
Walker said initiating an independent review was the correct course of action and that he’d want to understand what information the leadership team and the board were regularly receiving.
He said he’d “love to say” surprising financial results were rare, but conceded they occured on a semi-frequent basis during his time leading the Audit Office.
“The benefit of independent scrutiny by the Audit Office – and the auditors providing that support to the Auditor General – [is] that the reporting is fairly presented at the end of the year, whether it’s good, bad or ugly.”
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