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Homes, roads, bridges and power throughout the Coromandel and Bay of Plenty survived the latest deluge largely unscathed yesterday, but it was a close call for one Tauranga woman.
Carol Brocket's property at the bottom of Opoti Rd was threatened by a swollen stream, with water spilling over several paddocks toward her home during the day.
She woke up to find the stream, normally about 100m away, creeping steadily towards the house.
She immediately moved five horses from the farmland.
Later in the day the waters were just 20m away from her backyard fence.
"This is getting deeper, but I can't do much about it. The river over there is really moving along. There was no water at all in this paddock at six this morning.
"I'm a bit worried about it, but it's only water. It's nothing that hasn't happened before."
The rest of Tauranga escaped relatively unscathed, with several small slips reported in the Otumoetai area, said council communications manager Elizabeth Hughes.
MetService forecaster Mads Naeraa said nearly 100mm of rain had fallen in the city over 24 hours to late yesterday afternoon.
"That's quite a bit but compared to the flooding up in Kerikeri it's not too bad, Kerikeri had 419mm in 24 hours."
A weather warning was still in place for areas around Gisborne and the East Coast but "nothing really nasty" had been recorded in the area, Mr Naeraa said.
Thames Coromandel District Council civil defence co-ordinator Ron White said the Coromandel had escaped with just two road closures yesterday.
"They were at the Wade Stream crossing on SH24 north of Whitianga, and at Manaia [south of Coromandel town] where the road goes very low along the coast."
The road to Whitianga was closed late on Thursday night but reopened about midday yesterday after debris was cleared and waters receded.
The road on the Thames coast at Manaia was reopened three hours earlier after being blocked off the night before.
Much of yesterday's damage was superficial, brought on by surface flooding after localised downpours.
Powerco spokeswoman Greta Shirley said electricity outages were limited to "patches" around Tauranga and Whangamata yesterday with only a few individuals being affected.
MetService said the regions could look forward to drying out this weekend. "There are a few fronts coming from the west," Mr Naeraa said, "but they won't have much rain."
