KEY POINTS:
Torrential rain in the Far North has isolated residents, tourists and campers north of Te Kao after a bridge approach on the only road access to Cape Reinga was washed away.
State Highway 1 remains closed at Te Rangi bridge over the Mitimiti Stream, about 5km north of Te Kao and 40km south of Cape Reinga.
The only other land exit from the area - via Te Paki stream bed on to Ninety Mile Beach - was closed yesterday by the rain-swollen stream and highway authority Transit is not recommending the route.
It is investigating what may be an alternative route around the stricken bridge, however.
Travellers cut off by the washed-out approach to the 12m concrete bridge could go south only as far as Waitiki Landing. More than 30 were staying put last night in the Waitiki Landing lodge and holiday complex.
Others were in campervans.
"Everyone's been really good. They know there's nothing more we can do," said lodge manager Joyce Conrad-Mumms. "No one's in a hurry to go anywhere. No one can go anywhere."
Ed Smith, the Department of Conservation overseer at Te Paki, south of Cape Reinga, said all tour buses had been stopped from travelling north to the Cape yesterday morning.
The department had also closed Te Paki stream-bed route on to Ninety Mile Beach because of the amount of water in the stream and the danger of sand dunes washing into it.
Mr Smith said about 10 or 12 people in five vehicles - campers at the department's Tapotupotu camp between Cape Reinga and Spirits Bay - had driven to Waitiki Landing.
No one was left at the camp ground and no one was believed to be at Cape Reinga.
Mr Smith said 150mm of rain had fallen overnight in the area.
Te Hapua, New Zealand's northernmost settlement, is also cut off by the bridge washout.
The 40-pupil school there was officially open yesterday but only one student, who lives in the settlement, turned up.
Teacher Bernadine Heta said some children could not get through on the school bus and it was safer for them to stay home.
"They wouldn't have been able to get home anyway because of the bridge."
Teacher Tony Mirando was unable to go home to Pukenui, 70km south.
He said there had been a huge amount of rain and there was a gap where Te Rangi bridge used to cross the Mitimiti Stream.
He intended to stay the night at Waitiki Landing before returning to Te Hapua today.
Transit regional operations manager Joseph Flanagan said last night an engineer had reported the bridge damage was not as bad as first thought.
The southern approach had been washed out and the abutment damaged.
Mr Flanagan said repairs would take at least two days but a forestry road might provide a temporary alternative route. A decision on using the road is expected today.
Deluge in north keeps emergency services on the run
At least four schools closed in Northland yesterday while others like Bay of Islands College in Kawakawa - with only senior students yesterday - closed early before roads became impassable to school buses.
A small number of Far North secondary roads were closed by surface flooding or washouts, but all are expected to reopen by today.
A car was washed away briefly near Pamapuria, south of Kaitaia, when it drove into floodwaters 2m deep, the Fire Service said. No one was injured.
The Kaitaia volunteer brigade pumped water from a house at Waipapakauri, north of Kaitaia, and from two others at Houhora further north.
Power cuts peppered the district but electricity was expected to be restored in most places by yesterday evening.
The Fire Service in Whangarei dealt with a series of calls to flooded homes after an early morning deluge, and a car that hit a pole in heavy rain, bringing down power lines in Maunu Rd, caused delays for a time.
Rainfall figures for the region show that between Monday and yesterday, Kaitaia was drenched with almost 160mm. The area normally has 100mm during the entire month of February.
Western and eastern areas of the Mangamuka Range, south of Kaitaia, got 199mm and 212mm respectively, with rain falling at over 31mm an hour.
Kaeo recorded 165mm for the period, North Hokianga 146mm, Ohaeawai 172mm, and Kaikohe 191mm.
By contrast, eastern Whangarei (Glenbervie Hills) got just 15mm. Whangarei city recorded 93mm and Dargaville on the west coast 112.5mm.
Rain had cleared from many areas by late yesterday and was forecast to ease to showers elsewhere last night.
