More rain in store for upper North Island

Locals get a lift through a slip near Ocean Beach, Hastings. Photo / APN

MetService has issued a severe weather warning for Northland, Coromandel and the Bay of Plenty.

It said a deep low was drifting south, and was projected to move over the Bay of Plenty late tomorrow.

In a statement, it warned of rapidly rising rivers and streams, slips, and hazardous driving conditions.

In the Hawke's Bay, the council says all necessary evacuations have been completed in the beachside towns which were cut off earlier this week.

Access to southern Hawke's Bay beaches Blackhead, Kairakau and Mangakuri is restricted to essential services and residents only, while no access is available to Aramoana and the southern end of Pourerere Beach.

It was expected to take many weeks to reopen access to Aramoana, with road access to the southern end of Pourerere Beach closed indefinitely, Central Hawke's Bay District Council spokeswoman Donna Moorcock said.

Police are patrolling the coastal communities.

Engineers working to restore Wairoa water

Engineers are working on establishing a temporary water line after a landslip in the northern Hawke's Bay town of Wairoa cut off the town's water supply.

The Wairoa District Council had notified the Ministry of Education schools, kindergartens and early childcare centres in the town would need to close tomorrow because of the problem, Hawke's Bay Regional Council spokesman Drew Broadley said.

There would also be an impact for people heading back to work tomorrow, he said.

Water tankers were being brought in to supply households with water while engineers and contractors continued to work on the pipeline.

Water would be pumped into the town supply periodically tomorrow for residents to replenish household water stores and carry out general household tasks.

This would be rationed to no more than 20 litres per person.

Engineers were continuing to work on establishing a temporary water line, but it was not known how long this would take, Central Hawke's Bay Civil Defence emergency management officer Bruce Kitto said.

"It's a big engineering project...and after the rain the areas we are working in is a very difficult area to be working heavy machinery.

"The restrictions will remain in place until we notify people that we are back on line."

The local state of emergency remained in effect around the coastal towns, Mr Broadly said.

"I think it would be lifted if not on Monday than early on in the week."

Power out in Northland

Meanwhile, in Northland, power has been cut to thousands of Northland homes and businesses despite a severe weather warning for the area.

Transpower planned the outage for the Far North some weeks ago to install new equipment and undertake essential maintenance on the 110kV transmission line that supplies the area.

Power was turned off at 8am and was not expected to be resumed until 5pm.

The outage is for all districts north of the Mangamuka Ranges, the East Coast of the Far North, the Kaitaia district, North Hokianga and other parts of the Far North area.

- NZPA, NZHERALD STAFF