Last updated 17:21, June 12 2018
A video taken from the Tiene Kenia bridge shows the Waipāoa River has risen over nine metres after heavy rain, isolating the town of Te Karaka from the north and south.
Heavy rain and strong winds caused power cuts to at least 2200 customers between Gisborne, Wairoa and Hawke's Bay.
Tairāwhiti Civil Defence and Gisborne District Council's flood warning team were continuing to monitor river levels and rainfall in the district on Tuesday.
MetService forecast up to 100 millimetres of rain through to midnight Wednesday in the Ruahine and Kaweka Ranges, on top of what had already fallen.
Flooding on the road heading into Te Karaka on Tuesday.
Civil Defence emergency manager Louise Bennett said any travel that was not urgent should be delayed or postponed.
Hawke's Bay Civil Defence controller Ian Macdonald said rivers were coping with the downpour.
Big swells on Napier's waterfront on Tuesday.
The Wairoa River was approaching five-year levels, while the Mangaone River at Rissington Bridge, northwest of Napier, was just below 50-year levels, the same reached in the extreme flooding in March.
Haumoana School in Hastings was closed on Tuesday due to sewerage failures.
Board of trustees chairman Greg Duff said toilets were not flushing due to the weather.
A property flooded in Gisborne on Tuesday.
Other closed schools were Elsthorpe School, Mohaka School, Pakipaki School and Pakowhai School.
Havelock North volunteer fire brigade attended a house on Tanner St on Tuesday morning in Havelock North where a tree had fallen on a home.
Fire service also responded to a car stuck in flooding on Shanley Rd outside of Hastings, with one person trapped in the vehicle.
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.
Napier Port found one of two missing shipping containers that were blown into the sea overnight.
One was found on the beach between Westshore and Bayview, and the port advised the public to stay clear. The other remained missing at 4.30pm.
HOMES WITHOUT POWER
Large swells at Napier on Tuesday.
Eastland Network said the Gisborne and east coast areas were experiencing power cuts, with more than 1572 customers affected between Gisborne and coastal areas including Tolaga Bay and Wairoa.
By 5.15pm power had been restored to a few hundred homes, bringing the number down to 659.
Unison relationship manager Danny Gough said there were about 700 customers around Napier and Hastings without power on Tuesday morning. That number had risen to 760 by Tuesday afternoon.
Flooding at Mahana Station in the small community of Whangara, between Gisborne and Tolaga Bay.
Gough said rural areas near Hastings were being hit the hardest.
There would be a number of properties which would have no power over Tuesday night, he said.
ROAD CLOSURES
A 40-foot container that was blown off the wharf at Napier Port on Monday night was found washed up between Westshore and Bay View early on Tuesday.
There were a number of road closures and surface flooding throughout the district, the most significant being State Highway 2, north of Te Karaka, the Transport Agency said.
The Napier-Taupō Rd/SH5, and SH2 between Gisborne and Ōpōtiki were closed at 10am. SH5 would remain closed overnight.
There were delays on SH2 between Wairoa and Gisborne, with traffic signal control being used at the Tahaenui River Bridge.
More severe weather has battered Gisborne and Hawke's Bay overnight.
SEWAGE ISSUES
Residents at Te Karaka were asked not to flush their toilets due to issues with surface flooding.
The Gisborne wastewater network was flooded on Monday night, with large volumes of rain water from residential properties.
A viewing platform on Napier's Marine Parade inundated by large swells on Tuesday.
Emergency sewer valves were opened into the city's rivers about 8.30pm on Monday, to prevent sewage from overflowing back into homes and onto roads.
HAWKE'S BAY
Hawke's Bay Civil Defence said there were no significant issues over Monday night.
Muddy water flowing across SH5 has contributed to it remaining closed overnight on Tuesday.
The heaviest rain in the 12 hours to 5am Tuesday was in the Gisborne ranges, where several gauges recorded around 130mm, MetService meteorologist Matt Todd said.
The deluge comes just one week after masses of forestry debris flooded through Tolaga Bay, a small town north of Gisborne, creating a $10 million clean-up.
Agriculture and Rural Communities Minister Damien O'Connor and Associate Agriculture Minister Meka Whaitiri said the flooding damage around Tolaga Bay met the criteria for a medium-scale weather event.
Flooding at Mahana Station at Whangara, Gisborne.
"It's not just about cleaning up the immediate damage and stock losses. It's about support to our communities and how to feed stock over winter when the pasture and winter crops are now under silt and water," Whaitiri said.
Gisborne Mayor Meng Foon said it was a huge relief to have Government support following the widespread flooding which damaged parts of the east coast this month.