Flood room

Flood room status

Flood room - monitoring

Flood Room is monitoring. For information on current river levels, flows and rainfall accumulations, please visit our Environmental Data Hub.

What the status levels mean

Status: The weather is looking good and there are no risks of severe weather in the immediate forecast.

Action: Members of the Regional Flood Response team (including engineers, rivers and drainage operations, planning, communications and emergency management) continue their day jobs as part of their everyday mahi at Waikato Regional Council. A Regional Flood Coordinator and Regional Flood Liaison Officer are on duty 24 hours a day, maintaining an overview of river levels, weather patterns and forecasts affecting the Waikato.
Status: MetService has issued severe weather alerts or the weather forecast and/or catchment conditions could impact our schemes and/or the community.

Action: A Regional Flood Coordinator and Regional Flood Liaison Officer maintain an overview of river levels, weather patterns and forecasts affecting the Waikato. They will closely monitor the weather situation, environmental data and provide information to supporting agencies (such as civil defence, local councils and NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi) on potential impacts to assist with their planning and response.
Status: The weather is severe and there is a high risk of flooding and/or related natural hazards.

Action: Waikato Regional Council's flood response is scaled up with additional staff and resources deployed in the field, as well as in the office to manage flood schemes and provide information to civil defence and other agencies.

The Flood Room is monitoring

Updated at 2pm on Monday, 7 July 2025

Situation

Last week's rain has saturated our already sodden catchments and there is therefore a higher potential for further rain to cause impacts such as surface flooding and land slips, and rivers and streams to rise quickly.

Also, due to the rain last week and previous, Mercury and Waikato Regional Council are now in Phase 1 of the Waikato Hydro Scheme High Flow Management Plan. Phase 1 means we are working together to manage flows from Lake Taupō and Karāpiro Dam to minimise impacts of significant rain events on both Lake Taupō and downstream of Karāpiro dam.

Lake Taupō gates will be at maximum discharge 300 cubic metres per second (cumecs) - for at least the next few weeks.

Karāpiro dam discharge will reduce over the week.

With heavy rain forecast on Friday, 11 July, Flood Room will remain in monitoring.

Please keep up-to-date with MetService weather forecasts and messages from Civil Defence Emergency Management.

Visit our Environmental Data Hub for the latest river level and rainfall accumulations.

MetService forecast

Changes to the weather can occur quickly, so please keep up-to-date with the latest forecasts. For national severe weather information, MetService is New Zealand’s only authorised provider of Severe Weather Alerts.

There are no severe weather watches or warnings for the Waikato region. There is a low and moderate chance of heavy rain for Friday, 11 July, across the Waikato region.

Severe Thunderstorms

There is currently no Thunderstorm Outlook for the Waikato region.

Severe thunderstorm watches or warnings may be issued by MetService at short notice so please be alert for and act on these without hesitation – do not wait for further analysis by Waikato Regional Council.

For information on preparing for and keeping safe during a storm, see the National Emergency Management Agency's Get Ready website.

Likely/potential Impacts

Rivers and lakes

Rivers and lakes are continuing to recede from last week's rain.

The Waikato River will continue to be intentionally elevated to create storage capacity throughout the hydroelectric system.

Wind

There are no wind watches or warnings for the Waikato region. Please keep up to date with information from your local power provider, the NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi and local civil defence.

Coastal impacts

There are unlikely to be any significant coastal impacts.

Land instability

Areas that would normally experience land instability may be affected by any localised downpours that develop about the hill country and ranges of the region. People in these areas should remain vigilant for early warning signs of earth movement. Road users should plan ahead and keep up to date with the latest from their local council and the NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi.

What we're doing

Waikato Regional Council flood and drainage schemes

Our managed flood infrastructure has withstood the challenges of the recent weather. Our local operations staff remain on standby to monitor flood and drainage schemes.

Please note, drainage schemes will take time to return to the pre-event conditions. Rest assured our local operations staff are monitoring.

Waikato Regional Council telemetry

Our telemetry network continues to provide real-time data on rainfall and river levels and is monitored 24/7 by our Regional Flood Response team. Visit our Environmental Data Hub for the latest river level and rainfall accumulations.

Next update

The Flood Room will be updated by 11am on Thursday (10 July) or sooner if the situation changes.

New Zealand Flood Pics

New Zealand Flood Pics is a photographic archive of flooding for Aotearoa New Zealand which is currently hosted by the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA). It's free for anybody to upload or download flood photographs and your contributions are welcomed.

Go to New Zealand Flood Pics