A weather bomb has resulted in flash flooding around Gladstone School near Carterton.

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On Monday evening a local resident reported 75mm of rain in 45 minutes on a home rain gauge.

Piers Fuller Wrecked fences were left in the wake of Monday's flash flood at Gladstone School.

Resident Gill Stewart was on Te Whiti Road near the school and said the surface flooding was localised.

She said though the flooding was only 10 minutes out of Masterton, it wasn't raining in the town.

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Piers Fuller Flash flooding hit Gladstone School on Monday night with flood water pouring through the grounds.

Gladstone School was badly hit by the flooding. The buildings were fine but fences and roading near the school were damaged.

MetService said severe thunderstorms had been detected early on Monday evening near Gladstone in the hill country east of Martinborough, Te Wharau, Westmere and Longbush.

Masterton, Carterton and South Wairarapa would be most affected. In the South Island, Marlborough was also on notice, with severe thunderstorms detected near Waihopai.

Piers Fuller Floodwaters ripped seal off the road near Gladstone on Monday evening.

The thunderstorms were moving southeast and would bring heavy rain, which could cause surface and or flash flooding around streams, gullies and urban areas.

Driving conditions would be extremely dangerous.

On Sunday evening a localised downpour drenched parts of South Wairarapa taking residents and authorities by surprise.

GILL STEWART Gill Stewart said there was a lot of surface flooding around the Gladstone School grounds.

Up to 120mm of rain bucketed down near the ranges behind Featherston flooding properties, turning streams into torrents and ripping out chunks of road.

South Wairarapa District Council group infrastructure manager Mark Allingham said the weather bomb was quite an "exceptional event" leaving a lot of clean-up in its wake.

Some farmers on Underhill Rd north of Featherston recorded extraordinary levels of rain in a very short period in the later afternoon. Up to 90-120mm of rain fell in just over an hour.

GILL STEWART One resident reported 75mm of rain in 45 minutes on a home rain gauge.

"It was exceptionally localised. We had a huge amount of water that came straight down out of the hills very, very rapidly," Allingham said.

"One lady looked out the window and saw that it was fine, by the time she went to go outside and put her gumboots on, it had come up about six inches across her lawn."

The town of Featherston was also affected with large amounts of surface flooding flowing across State Highway 2 in places and through the commercial district.

PHOTO: Pete Monk Photographer Surface flooding on the main street of Featherston on Sunday evening.

The heavy rain started just after 4pm and peaked not long after.

"By 7pm we were getting quite a few calls in and we got staff on the ground," Allingham said.

A piece of Bucks Rd, which is nestled at the base of the Tararua Ranges near the Tauherenikau River, was one of the worst hit. A section of the road was eaten away by the time darkness fell.

PHOTO: Pete Monk Photographer A piece of Bucks Rd was torn away by the flood.

Council contractors were on site on Monday repairing the road to prevent more damage from forecast rain.

PHOTO: Pete Monk Photographer Up to 120mm of rain fell in an hour on Sunday.