Wettest July in years, ground saturated

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Wettest July in years, ground saturated

Tuesday, July 31, 2012

THIS is by far the wettest July of the past 23 years, shown in records kept by the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Science (Niwa).

By this morning 233mm had fallen.

July 2004 was the previous wettest since 1990, at just over 200mm.

Often high monthly rainfall figures are reached with just a couple of exceptionally heavy falls, but this month’s total has been the result of rain on an extraordinary number of days.

Official wet days are those days where more than 1mm falls and Gisborne has had 16 of those up to this morning.

Moisture has been recorded on 21 days, with 18 of those being half a millimetre or more, while the average number of wet days for July is 12 over the 1971-2000 period.

Many roads in the district have slips and dropouts. Waikawa Road at Waipiro Bay and Manders Road in Waimata Valley are both closed, a Gisborne District Council spokeswoman said.

Road conditions can be found on the council’s website.

Drainage systems are only “just coping” because of the saturated ground here, she said.

More rain is forecast for the rest of the week after a brief break today.

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