Heavy rain is still being forecast for Hawke's Bay this week, the 29th anniversary of the devastating Cyclone Bola which hit the region on March 6-8, 1988.
Metservice forecasts included a "severe weather watch", which was due to be updated last night and which warned of bursts of heavy rain today and tomorrow from Northland to Northern Hawke's Bay.
It is the same area as forecast for the famed cyclone, which washed away the Wairoa town bridge, closed the Napier-Wairoa road for more than a week, and throughout the North Island cost three lives, with rainfall peaking in the Hawke's Bay-Gisborne region with three-day rainfall in some places over 900mm.
Cyclones about the same time of the year have been forecast several times over the years, including Cyclone Lusi in 2014 which resulted in the cancellation of numerous sports events but comparatively little of the predicted tempest.
Rain is however forecast for the rest of the week in Hastings, where almost 2000 horses and ponies are taking part in the Southern Hemisphere's biggest equestrian event the Horse of the Year Show.