The storm caused severe surface flooding and dangerous slips forced the closure of several main roads. Many homes and businesses have been left sodden.
Marty Duffy's kitchen in Dunedin was left hanging in mid-air when a "canyon" opened up on his section on Wednesday. He and his pets were evacuated after the slip sent 200 tonnes of earth on to his driveway.
That same night three people were lucky to avoid injury after part of Highcliff Rd on the Otago Peninsula slipped away.
Barry McCone's car flipped upside down when he crashed into the hole while driving home alone from work. Soon after he was joined by a second car which came to rest against his.
Earlier in the week, Northland and Auckland were slammed by a powerful electrical storm, followed by another downpour on Wednesday when 15mm of rain fell in an hour, flooding a laboratory at Auckland City Hospital and collapsing the ceiling of a home in Devonport.
The worst of the rain has now eased as the low that affected the country moves east - but a few showers are expected to linger in some places over the weekend.
Aucklanders can expect the weather to become more predictable and hopefully drier over the next week.
WeatherWatch's Philip Duncan said it might seem as if New Zealand was experiencing more extreme weather than usual but we are just more aware of it now.
"Certainly with smartphones and the internet people can take photos and videos of every event - so from a news point of view we get much more content and therefore every weather event now is a news story." However, the increasing temperature of the planet meant more rainfall was likely in the future, he said.
"Those who watch tropical cyclones will know a one or two degree difference in the ocean temperature can be the difference between a category five storm like Cyclone Pam and a small low that causes little damage."
Dr James Renwick, a climate scientist at Victoria University, said New Zealand's recent bout of stormy weather, particularly the flooding in Dunedin and also on the Kapiti Coast, was an example of two extreme bouts of rain coming close together.
"There's no sign that we're going to get more storms - it's just that when they arrive they tend to be more vigorous, so they're a bigger deal when they happen. But any idea that we'll have a continuous string of big rainstorms is not the picture of the future at all."
He said weather would be more extreme, with heavier downpours in wet western areas and more intense droughts in eastern dry areas.
El Nino started to develop about a month ago, which normally means more stormy weather in New Zealand, but Dr Renwick said it shouldn't have made a real difference yet.
New Zealand Insurance Council chief executive Tim Grafton said last year $147.9 million was paid out for weather-related claims and in 2013 the total was $206.4 million.
So far this year, $2.29 million had been paid out, including $1.45 million for Cyclone Pam.
- additional reporting: Otago Daily Times
