NIWA meteorologist Chris Brandolino says the intensity of rain in Tairawhiti should ease soon.
Roads are closed through the region, and police evacuated people from Te Karaka valley early this morning after the Waipaoa River rose more than 7 metres.
There has been rainfall of 200 millimetres or more in multiple places north of Gisborne over the past 36 hours.
“That’s the amount of rain that would normelly fall in a month. In fact it’s probably about double what wold fall in the month of June so when you’re getting a month’s worth of rain or even double, squeezig that in to a day or day and a half you can understand why we are having the problems we are having,” Mr Brandolino says,
A problem now for rain-sodden parts of Tairawhiti and Hawke’s Bay is high winds knocking over trees.
