It has been a chaotic couple of days in Hawke's Bay, and the bad news is the weather is set to continue into Friday.
Rain has caused slips on major roads, extra work for farmers and sewage in the streets.
Hawke's Bay residents Dawson and Novia Bliss drove the Napier-TaupoRoad on Wednesday, and Dawson Bliss, who has been driving the road for 50 years, said it was the worst he had seen it.
"Even for me I was scared."
"Water was coming down the hills in waves almost."
President of Federated Farmers Hawke's Bay, Jim Galloway, it was too early to say the financial impact on the farming community, but the farming community would have a lot of extra work over the coming weeks.
"There's a lot of extra work happening at the moment, everyone is just concentrating on trying to get feed or shelter to stock."
"There will be some slips around, you may have lost fences, so there's going to be clean up work for a little bit."
It was an unfortunate start to lambing season, Galloway saying the combination of wind and rain was a deadly one for young livestock.
"Wind or rain aren't too bad on their own, but when you get that combination of wind and rain, that's when it's harder for animals to keep going."
Wycliffe St in Onekawa saw stormwater and sewage spilling through manholes. Photo / Warren Buckland
Several schools closed on Wednesday due to flooding witrh most reopening yesterday. Kereru School, a small rural school of 25 students, was the only school not to open on Thursday, according to the Ministry of Education.
Napier City experienced 90mm of rain in 24 hours, more than it's usual monthly average for September.
This led to pressure of the stormwater and wastewater systems, ultimately resulting in sewage spilling up from manholes, with one resident saying he spotted tampons and toilet paper on the street.
To reduce the public health risk, the council decided to release the pressure by discharging wastewater into the Purimu stormwater stream, which flows into Ahuriri Estuary.
The council is now advising residents not to swim in the Estuary or collect shellfish from the area.
Hawke's Bay remains under a heavy rain watch, as well as a severe wind warning.
Pressure on Napier's stormwater system sewage to spill into the streets. Photo / Warren Buckland
MetService Metrologist Ciaran Doolin says there will be persistent showers until Friday, and exposed areas along the coast could see severe gale force winds.
"[Friday] it's going to continue to be another wet and, and only really easing on Saturday" Doolin said.
