One impressive river chart

The primary reason we're not in New Zealand already is that we opted to try to avoid the head of the rainy season that often hits in November. Last year was the first year we hit drought conditions in New Zealand - in Nov. But Dec was an onslaught of water. We opted to try to miss that spring season a little bit this year. There's always good water to hit no matter how much of it there is. The other reason we pushed our trip back was to hit a bit more of the back country cicadas come Jan - Feb. We had another taste of them last year and opted to give it another go.
But this week's river charts give a glimpse of what we were trying to avoid! A massive storm hit the coast. The chart below shows just how quickly the rains hit, how hard it hits, and how quickly the rivers drain - they're built to do exactly that. The chart is water depth. In under 24 hours, this large river put on 18 feet of depth and came back to normal. Of course, the gauge is now broken thanks to the surge of water, but it just goes to show how this island handles water - quickly - and how you have to keep an eye on the forecast (if only for self preservation).