Rain Rain Rain

Winter came late this year. It started about a month ago and has rained on and off almost all the time since,that's after the worst drought in living memory which started in December. The year's rainfall to mid June was only 107mm .There have been floods in many areas of North Island this month with a state of emergency being declared in the far north. I took pictures of our flooded Waipawa river this morning.Its the first time I have seen it so full, only about 200m from our house and we can hear it roaring.This picture with Elaine shows only half of the width of the river which joins another tributary the same size just a few Ks below forming the Tukituki River. Elaine is actually standing in the middle of the bridge so there is just as much behind me with the camera. Its about 250m wide.The bottom picture taken a year ago shows the normal flow.