Gisborne next as rain continues to hammer Coromandel, Bay of Plenty
Further rain is expected to fall on the sodden Coromandel Peninsula and Bay of Plenty before moving on to Gisborne.
State Highway 25, between Thames and Tairua, was closed by flooding south of Tairua on Monday morning, along with about half a dozen local roads affected by slips after wet weather caused problems over the weekend.
The Thames-Coromandel District Council is urging people to delay travelling on the roads if they can, with potentially another 100mm falling on Monday.
"The message from Civil Defence is watch for rapidly rising waters, avoid waterways and if travelling take extreme care as there is debris on roads from lots of minor slips," it said in a statement.
Flooding had affected local water supplies and there was no timeframe for it being restored to Matatoki, south of Kopu.
"Crews can't reach the water intake to investigate the problem because a bridge is flooded."
The MetService predicted the heavy rain would start to hit the Gisborne area on Sunday night and continue until Tuesday morning - a severe weather warning saying the rain was expected to cause slips and surface flooding.
Over the weekend, a car with three children inside had to be towed out of water on Hikuai Settlement Road, near Pauanui.
The children aged nine, 10 and 11 were safe, Fire Service northern communications shift manager Jaron Phillips said.
