Flooding in the Coromandel Peninsula has eased overnight but several roads remain closed and farms are still under water.
Flooding on Sam Clarke's farm in Hikuai. Photo: Supplied
About 100 households in the Coromandel Hauraki area are still without power after yesterday's storm.
Powerco said field crews were working as quickly and safely as possible to restore power to affected customers on the Coromandel Peninsula and around Paeroa and Te Aroha.
The network operations manager, Karen Frew, said road closures from flooding and slips had hampered their progress.
The storm slowed efforts last night to repair damage to the electricity network after trees and debris crashed through lines during high winds.
The region took a battering yesterday, with floods cutting off the settlement of Hikuai near Pauanui and forcing stranded travellers to escape in a Surf Life Saving rescue boat.
MetService said the region had 410mm of rain in 24 hours.
Plea to conserve water
The Thames- Coromandel District Council is asking Coromandel Town residents to conserve water.
The latest storm has put pressure back on its water treatment plant. The water remained safe to drink, and there is no boil water notice in place.
"We recovered from the last storm event, and the plant was functioning well, but when the bad weather hit us again this week, our ability to continue to produce water at a high enough rate to match demand comes under pressure," operations group manager Bruce Hinson said in a statement.
Hazards for motorists
Sections of State Highway 25 remain closed by slips and flooding.
The band of heavy rain is moving towards Gisborne and Bay of Plenty, and weather warnings apply until 9pm.
Streams and rivers may rise and driving conditions may be hazardous due to slips and surface flooding.
Heavy rain has caused slips in Gisborne, north of Tolaga Bay.
The Gisborne District Council is advising extreme caution on the roads. Slips are restricting access on East Cape Road and Glenroy Road and traffic is reduced to one lane.
Civil defence controller Garry Towler said the region saw considerable rain and damage.
"Being a prolonged storm - it started raining on Tuesday - this one has dealt us quite a blow."
Photo: Supplied / Thames-Coromandel District Council
Eight roads are still closed - three on the state highway network, and five local roads.
"The eastern seaboard on the Coromandel, from Pauanui, Hikuai to Whitianga is closed. It will probably be closed for a good few hours," he told Morning Report.
Tairua and Whangamata also bore the brunt of the storm.
"There's a major slip on the Kopu Hikuai road - that's also closed at present. Pretty much 50 percent of the Coromandel is inaccessible at the moment. Hopefully, the roads will start to clear by midday."
He said travellers to and from the Coromandel could still use the Thames Coast road which was clear.
"But there are slips everywhere ... all the roads have got some slips, trees down. The worst of the weather has cleared."
SH25A KOPU TO HIKUAI - ROAD CLOSED - 2:30PM
— Waka Kotahi NZTA Waikato/BoP (@WakaKotahiWaiBP) July 17, 2020
Work to clear two seperate slips between Kopu & Hikuai continues today, however SH25A remains closed & is expected to stay closed overnight. Delay your journey or allow extra time for alternative routes: https://t.co/LUL7OfgO0W ^TP pic.twitter.com/27j9IaLyNr
The weather warning remained, but they were expecting some rain today. "We still have a lot of wind, it is quite gusty."
Towler knew of a farmer who had 250 acres under water this morning.
"It's quite considerable. That surface water will drain quickly with the tides, but hopefully, it won't do much pastoral damage.
"The farmers have certainly copped it this time around."
Many farmers are facing slips, silt covered paddocks, blocked culverts and damaged fencing.
Sam Clarke's farm. Photo: Supplied
Sam Clarke's farm in Hikuai is underwater but they managed to shift the 220 dairy cows to higher ground yesterday.
"It is the biggest flood I've seen since I've been here. It was really ripping out."
He said there was good warning and they managed to get the stock to safety.
"There's been a few slips on the hills, the biggest worry is silt damage and fences from those big logs. It's going to be a bit of a mess."
At the moment, 50 percent of the farm is underwater, but in the height of the flood it was about 70 percent. He said in the deepest party the water was about three or four metres.
It's the region's third major storm since the start of June, after it was previously gripped by drought, however, Whitianga farmer Dirk Sieling said the flooding may have a silver lining.
"What I keep hearing from farmers is following this drought, at the moment the winter grass growth has been better than usual and from things looking extremely grim just a couple of months ago, most farmers can now see their way through till spring with the grass growing well and whatever supplementary feeding they have left."
Further north
This morning north of Whangārei has also seen heavy rain and isolated thunderstorms. There is a severe thunderstorm watch in place.
MetService said there was a chance of surface flooding and driving conditions could become hazardous due to low visibility.
⚠Severe Thunderstorm Watch for Northland north of Whangārei is in place. There is a risk that heavy rain may become slow moving over localised places producing downpours. ❗ Severe Thunderstorm Warning remains in place. Details at https://t.co/GeH6tLLohf ^Tahlia pic.twitter.com/zLAsdrFsBT
— MetService (@MetService) July 16, 2020
Severe Thunderstorm Warning issued for Kerikeri area. Downpours have brought around 70mm to the airport in the last few hours, with more to come in the next two or three hours. https://t.co/iUZXxAHB40 ^TA pic.twitter.com/q5YY6KunJo
— MetService (@MetService) July 16, 2020
In the south
Motorists travelling near Cromwell can expect delays of up to 30 minutes due to a slip sitting above the main road into town.
State Highway 8 remains open to only one lane of traffic at Deadman's Point under stop-go traffic management as the Transport Agency continues to stabilise the slip.
The agency has not ruled out closing the road depending on the slip's behaviour and falling material.
