MetService is warning drivers to take care on the drive home this holiday weekend, as it forecasts severe gales and heavy rain across parts of the South Island. The weekend road toll stands at seven.
Strong winds are forecast across the east and south of the South Island for Monday, and heavy rain is expected across Fiordland and the Southern Alps from Otira south.
On Tuesday there is also the chance of heavy rain in Buller and Westland, and gales further north in Wellington and Wairarapa. The Labour Weekend road toll has risen to seven, following the death of a pedestrian in west Auckland early on Monday morning.
The Labour Weekend road toll rose to seven, following the death of a pedestrian in west Auckland early on Monday morning.
The toll is now just one below the eight people who died on the roads during Labour Weekend last year.
Police say the pedestrian was hit by a vehicle on Great North Road near Point Chevalier and the driver is co-operating with them.
A woman was killed when her car hit the median barrier on State Highway 2 near Tauranga at 10.15pm on Sunday.
Earlier on Sunday a man was killed in a collision in Wellsford north of Auckland and two people died in a single car crash on State Highway 2 in Hastings.
A motorcyclist who was critically injured in a crash in Wanganui on Saturday night also died and a man was killed on Saturday morning in the Napier suburb of Bayview.
National road policing manager Superintendent Paula Rose says even one death is unacceptable.
The holiday period ends at 6am on Tuesday.
