Rain Falls in Tauranga as Cyclone Cook Nears

Kiwis were battening down the hatches the morning of Thursday, April 13, as Cyclone Cook approached.Weather service MetService said the storm was expected to make landfall in an area between the Coromandel Peninsula to the western Bay of Plenty at around 6 pm on Thursday. It was then forecast to move south over the rest of the North Island by midnight and pass over the Banks Peninsula on the South Island around 6 am.The entire North Island was under a Severe Wind Warning, except for Northland which was under a severe wind watch. Metservice meteorologist Lisa Murray predicted wind gusts of 150 km/h or more and heavy downpours.New Zealand Civil Defence called it an “extremely serious weather event … Put safety first. Don’t take any chances.”This video shows rain falling in a garden in the Tauranga suburb of Otumoetai, in the Bay of Plenty in the North Island.