The storm that raged through the district last week (September 21-22), closing multiple roads and resulting in a state of emergency being declared in Queenstown, delivered record rainfall to Wānaka, the MetService says.

In the 24-hour period from 9am Thursday to 9am Friday, Wānaka recorded 88.6mm of rain - the wettest day on record since 1992.

“We had a big influx of warm air coming in from the west and that brought with it a lot of moisture and then we also had, coming in from the south, these cold southerly winds undercutting that warm air,” MetService meteorologist Jessie Owen said.

“That sort of warm air meeting the cold air can lead to quite a lot of rain.”

Over the full period of the storm a total of 102.6mm of rainfall was recorded in Wānaka with heavier falls in Lake Wānaka’s headwaters causing the lake to rise more than 1.2 metres in a 48-hour period.

The lake level peaked at 278.843 metres at 11.45am Friday September 22, still 0.57 metres below the first warning level.

The storm caused significant surface flooding and slips cutting off access to the West Coast (Haast Pass), Cardrona (via the Cardrona Valley Road), Mt Aspiring National Park (Mt Aspiring Road), and Cromwell via SH6.

All roads have reopened except for the Haast Pass. Waka Kotahi says an update on that road is expected soon.

To put this rainfall in perspective, Cyclone Gabrielle resulted in 400mm of rainfall in just a 12-hour period at Glengarry in Hawkes Bay in March, according to Hawkes Bay Regional Council.

PHOTO: Wānaka App