A Heavy Rain Watch remains in effect for the region today.
Metservice issued the watch for the period from 9am Saturday through to midday today.
The Watch said periods of heavy rain, possibly reaching warning criteria, were expected, along with the possibility of thunderstorms.
---------------------
Another week of industrial action by the Post Primary Teachers Association will commence today.
Year 9 and 10 students are rostered home today.
Further action is planned from tomorrow through until Thursday, and for four days next week.
----------------------
Local Police are advising people living in remote rural areas to ensure their property is secure.
Police have had a report of items being stolen from a forestry site in Gwavas Forest.
Senior Constable Andy Walker said he understands security contractors are now working overnight at the forest.
The recent theft follows a spate of burglaries and thefts from the same area in March and April.
Mr Walker said overhead shearing plants are a hot item at the moment, and are being taken from all over Central Hawke’s Bay.
-----------------------
Spark says maintenance work on some towers in Hawke’s Bay affected mobile customers last week.
A number of Spark customers reported issues with their mobile phone coverage, affecting both voice calls and data.
Spark spokesperson Beth Stubbe said one of its cell towers, north of Poukawa, experienced intermittent outages while maintenance work was carried out.
She said another three towers – including Tikokino – which is operated by the Rural Connectivity Group were also undergoing maintenance.
These towers provide services to all three network operators – Spark, One NZ, and 2Degrees.
Ms Stubbe said maintenance and outages that affect Spark’s mobile and broadband customers are published on its website, and says for customers that notice a coverage change, to report them to the company’s faults team by using the messaging tool on the Spark app.
She said in terms of mobile blackspots being reported by some since Cyclone Gabrielle, all Spark towers are working as they should.
--------------------
Repairs on stopbanks on the Waipawa and Tukituki Rivers are nearly complete.
The stopbanks breached during Cyclone Gabrielle in February.
The Hawke’s Bay Regional Council says five teams and a total of 30 people have been working at Stockade Road, Tapairu Road, Walker Road, Waipawa Town Scours and Stablefords.
Regional Council spokesman Chris Dolley said locally sourced material close to breach and scour sites are being used, which is then compacted and tested before being covered in a silt capping and topsoil.
Mr Dolley said once stopbank repairs are complete, work will begin on scours and erosion sites.
He said significant gravel extraction is also being undertaken from the Upper Tukituki and Waipawa rivers, along with the Makaretu, Tukipo, and Mangaonuku streams.
------------------------
Methamphetamine with a street value of over $100,000 was seized by Police at a Te Hauke property on Friday.
Acting Detective Sergeant Alex Simister said Police arrested a 60-year-old Mongrel Mob member following a search warrant.
209 grams of methamphetamine, and $10,000 in cash, was seized.
The man was arrested on a charge of possession of methamphetamine for supply.
Mr Simister said Police know organised crime groups are heavily involved in the supply and distribution of P and have no tolerance for this type of offending.