Last updated 10:50, June 12 2018
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A slip has blocked the southbound lane of Thames Coast Rd.
Wind has cut power to homes in Ferndale and Fitzroy this morning.
Heavy rain and gales have been battering the east of the North Island, blocking highways, as a deep low from the subtropics closes in on the Bay of Plenty coast.
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Mid-morning the NZ Transport Agency recommended people avoid travelling in the Gisborne region, if possible.
A slip has blocked the southbound lane of Thames Coast Rd.
Multiple slips had closed State Highway 5 from Napier to Taupō and flooding had closed SH2 from Gisborne to Opotiki. Further north, a slip was blocking the southbound lane of the Thames Coast Road, between Ngarimu Bay and Whakatete Bay, north of Thames.
Air New Zealand warned early Tuesday the bad weather could affect flights. MetService reported the peak gust in the hour to 7.30am was 169kmh at White Island, while Niwa Weather said the strongest wind gusts were likely from about 8-10am in southeast coastal Bay of Plenty and coastal areas from Gisborne to northern Hawke's Bay.
A video taken from the Tiene Kenia bridge shows the Waipawa River has risen over nine metres after heavy rain, isolating the town of Te Karaka from the north and south.
The Gisborne township of Te Karaka was cut off after the Waipaoa River rose to dangerous levels, affecting 500-600 people.
Heavy rain and strong winds have caused power cuts to at least 2200 customers between Gisborne, Wairoa and Hawke's Bay.
Tairāwhiti Civil Defence and Emergency Management and Gisborne District Council's flood warning team were continuing to monitor river levels and rainfall in the district on Tuesday.
MetService's national forecast for Monday afternoon and evening.
Although rainfall was expected to ease later in the day, current conditions were still of concern, Civil Defence said.
In Wellington, trains on the Wairarapa line were held up for a time while a tree was cleared from the tracks.
MetService issued a new set of weather warnings from 9am Tuesday.
River levels are running high in the Gisborne area after a night of heavy rain overnight. It's just a week since flash flooding ravaged Tolaga Bay.
It added Tongariro National Park, and the eastern hills of Wellington and Wairarapa, to the areas expected to have the heaviest rain. Other areas in the list are the Coromandel Peninsula, Bay of Plenty, Gisborne, Hawke's Bay, Tararua and Kaikōura ranges.
The areas forecast to be hit by the strongest winds, with gusts to 120kmh in exposed areas, were unchanged. They are Bay of Plenty, Taupō, Taihape, Taranaki, Whanganui, Manawatū, Kāpiti-Horowhenua and Marlborough Sounds.
The hills and ranges of north Canterbury were added to the list of other areas that could get heavy rain. Other places on the list are Auckland and Great Barrier Island, northern Waikato, Taupō and Taihape.
A heavy band of rain moves across the upper North Island in this MetService rain radar image from 5.35am on Tuesday.
Auckland is no longer among the areas at risk of severe gales, while Wairarapa and the Tararua district have been added to the group.
Other areas that could get severe gales are Great Barrier Island, Coromandel Peninsula, eastern Waikato, Gisborne, Taumarunui, Hawke's Bay, Nelson, Buller and Wellington.
A deep low that had come down from the tropics would be moving south southwest across the North Island during Tuesday, MetService meteorologist Matt Todd said.
Around Gisborne the Waipaoa River has flooded in areas, cutting off the small town of Te Karaka. We spoke to Gisborne farmer Mike Parker last Tuesday after flash flooding hit Tolaga Bay and we're back with him now.
The low had brought warm moist air with it and was dropping heavy rain, particularly over eastern parts of the North Island. Around 5am Tuesday the low was just off the coast of Bay of Plenty.
"By tonight [Tuesday] it looks like it's close to South Taranaki and Whanganui. Then during the next day it starts moving more south southeast, then during the latter half of Wednesday it starts to move east away from the country," Todd said.
"The low's at its deepest at the moment... It weakens as it moves south across the North Island."
The heaviest rain in the 12 hours to 5am Tuesday was in the Gisborne ranges where several gauges recorded around 130mm.
"Closer to the coast there's been steady rain, and it's been heavy at times," Todd said. Gisborne had 36mm in 12 hours, Tolaga Bay 33mm, Hastings 38mm and Mahia 39mm.
Auckland was under a band of heavy rain for an hour or two, with 10mm recorded at Auckland Airport from 3-4am.
The strongest winds recorded overnight were about 110kmh, on the Mamaku Plateau, White Island, and Cape Kidnappers, while at Hicks Bay gusts got to about 100kmh.