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Wet, windy weather is forecast to return to parts of the North Island over the weekend, but no repeat of this week's widespread havoc is expected.
A massive cleanup was under way today as the second storm within a week eased, leaving main rail and road links closed in the South Island and a trail of damage throughout the country expected to cost over $25 million.
Most of the hundreds of people evacuated from their houses in the last two days have returned, although others - including residents in Picton, Bay of Plenty, and Auckland's North Shore - are unable to return yet to houses damaged by mud and water.
Rain falling on already sodden ground was likely to create further surface flooding and slips this weekend, MetService spokesman Bob McDavitt said.
Heavy rain is expected for about 24 hours from Saturday afternoon over parts of the North Island, including Mt Taranaki, the central plateau, eastern Bay of Plenty, the Tararua Ranges, and the ranges of Nelson and northern Marlborough.
"An active front is likely to cross the North Island on Saturday evening," Mr McDavitt said.
"Following close behind, a deep low is expected to cross central New Zealand from early on Sunday morning."
State Highway 1 remained closed between Kaikoura and Cheviot, near Oamaru, and further south from Waitaki to Pukeuri Junction.
The main trunk rail line was closed because of significant damage, with the line between Christchurch and Picton unlikely to be reopened before Sunday evening, said Ontrack spokesman Kevin Ramshaw.
Most of the damage was at Claverley, about 40km south of Kaikoura, where the track turned inland up a river valley. The line was also damaged at Parnassus, 14km north of Cheviot, and north of Kaikoura.
"It's seldom we get a line knocked out for this length of time - it's not so much a single event, it's the sheer number of slips and slides and scours and things like that that we've encountered," Mr Ramshaw said.
The line had been cleared between Grassmere and Picton, but serious flooding just south of Dunedin had closed the main south line.
About 40 services had been affected, and repair costs were not yet known but would be substantial, he said.
Dry weather is forecast for Canterbury, meaning that Amberley Beach residents who had been evacuated, and other communities hit by flooding, can clean up, said Environment Canterbury acting chairperson Jo Kane.
"We have had reports that shops were packed with people getting batteries, food and other supplies during this storm," Ms Kane said.
"People need to be prepared before other events, whether it is a future storm, flood, earthquake or another emergency before it happens."
The situation was improving in Marlborough with roads reopening and waterways dropping, said Marlborough Civil Defence controller and council manager of assets and services, Mark Wheeler.
However, residents were being warned to observe basic hygiene if they came in contact with stormwater contaminated by sewage.
Only two or three houses had been affected by sewage-laden stormwater, with hopes for all to be inhabitable again.
Three houses have been uninhabited since Wednesday at Omokoroa, near Tauranga, while a slip is cleaned up. The forecast rain this weekend was of some concern, but no more damage was expected.
Some residents throughout the Horowhenua district were still without power, roads were closed, and some areas still had to boil water.
In Dunedin, many roads also remained closed, but were expected to be cleaned up next week.
Nelson residents were still being asked to conserve water as contractors fixed the town's water supply pipeline.
Counting the cost
Storms this week and last weekend took five lives and caused millions of dollars of damage.
The National Crisis Management Centre under the Beehive will close down this morning as communities begin to count the cost.
In the Far North the council is putting the cost at $6 million with wide-spread damage to roads caused by flooding and slips.
Far North District Council spokesman Rick McCall said most of the damage caused to roads had happened on the East Coast from Kawakawa, north to Maunganui.
He said community spirit had been high and if there was a good thing to come out of the storms it would be the realised value of a community communications system, set up after last year's floods.
Mr McCall said communities contacted the council with river levels and other flooding information which allowed the council to concentrate resources where they were most needed.
Northland Federated Farmers dairy chairman Ashley Cullen was emptying out a hay barn at the back of the farm in order to move calves under cover when nzherald.co.nz phoned.
He said farmers had a massive clean-up on their hands but needed to put that aside in order to look after newly born calves and lambs.
Mr Cullen said vets had been putting water pipes down the throats of cows to give them a burst of warm water and bring their temperatures up.
He said fences were down and there would be a lot of road maintenance to do in summer.
Slips
Two more homes have been evacuated on Auckland's North Shore because of slips.
Engineers and the Earthquake Commission were at the landslide on Mulberry Place in Glenfield.
North Shore City Council incident manager Paul O'Brien said five homes were in the line of fire, with two already sustaining some damage.
Fifteen Torbay homes were evacuated earlier this week because of a much larger slip. One has already been written off.
North Shore Civil Defence spokesman Blair Harkness said they were still working at trying to drain water from the sodden earth.
The Waitakere City Council moved tenants out of a house in Birdwood Rd, Swanson, after a large slip occurred about 8m away.
Gisborne's Civil Defence officer, Richard Steele, said he suspected December's earthquake may have contributed to a large number of slips in the area.
Kaikoura
Kaikoura has been left almost entirely isolated after the storm which left a trail of destruction through the North Island moved south yesterday.
The town's main road south is closed as is the inland road at Hurunui.
Kaikoura District Council emergency management officer Mike Kennedy said despite the road closures, the township "got off quite lightly".
He said farmers would be dealing with downed fences, washed out culverts and maybe the odd private bridge.
Mr Kennedy said paddocks at one point had about 30cm of water on them while some roads had up to a metre.
"It looked pretty impressive for a short time," he said.
He said there were a couple of garages that had been flooded but homes were spared a wash-out.
Missing man presumed drowned
The 40 year-old man believed to have been swept away in a swollen Northland river on Tuesday is now presumed dead.
Police and search and rescue volunteers have been searching Kawakawa's Waikare River for Kerry Michael Witt since Wednesday.
The body of the Mr Witt's partner, 49 year-old Lavona Cherrington was found about 1.5km down stream, tangled in trees.
Police believe the pair drowned when they tried to ford the river near their home.
Police spokeswoman Sarah Kennett said more bad weather was on the way and could further hamper the search.
"Although Kerry Michael Witt is presumed drowned, on the off-chance that he is not in the river Police would like to hear from anyone who may know of his whereabouts," Ms Kennett said.
Mr Witt and Ms Cherrington's deaths follow those of canoeist James Moore, 33, and fishermen Rick Josephs, 38, and Damien Wyatt, 35, who lost their lives in heavy seas in last weekend's storm.
Civil defence
The Ministry of Civil Defence and Emergency Management national operations manager, David Coetzee, said they were working with welfare organisations to support those who had been evacuated.
Civil Defence emergency operations centres were operating in Thames Valley, Horowhenua and Hawkes Bay yesterday.
Several roads were closed in the Coromandel, Bay of Plenty, Waikato, New Plymouth and Wellington areas.
Railway lines closed in the North Island included the Main Trunk line between Otaki and Waikanae, the Napier to Gisborne line, the Woodville to Hastings line and the Kinleith branch line.
Airport closures played havoc with the Bay of Plenty rugby squad's travel to Blenheim for last night's Air New Zealand Cup opener against Tasman.
The team went from Tauranga to Auckland by bus, then flew to Christchurch and then travelled by bus as far as Kaikoura, where they had to spend the night because the road to Blenheim was closed.
They eventually arrived in Blenheim 30 hours after leaving Tauranga and won their match 8-7.
All mountains in the country - except in Wanaka and Queenstown's Coronet Peak - were closed to the public because of strong winds causing blizzard conditions.
About 500 households connected to the Powerco Network were without power yesterday. Operations manager Ross Dixon said the hardest hit areas were around Wanganui and Manawatu.
Telecom urged customers to restrict their calls as power lines were down and exchanges had to rely on back-up batteries and generators.
Large swathes of the Coromandel and Hauraki Plains were still submerged by floodwaters yesterday.
Environment Waikato emergency management officer Adam Munro said staff would monitor the Waikato and Waipa Rivers over the next few days.
Roads
The following road closures are in place across the country:
State Highway 1 between:
Kaikoura and Cheviot (Canterbury)
Waitaki to Pukeuri (Canterbury)
Oamaru to Maheno (Otago)
State Highway 2:
Karangahake Gorge section near Paeroa will close from 1000-1400 to allow repairs
State Highway 25 between:
Coromandel and Whangapoua (Waikato)
State Highway 56 between:
Opiki and Alves Road (Manawatu-Wanganui)
State Highway 53 between:
Martinborough and Tauherenikau (Wairarapa)
State Highway 43 at:
Tatu Flats (Taranaki)
Airports, ferries and ports
No issues reported.
Railways
The following rail lines are closed:
Main North Line between Christchurch and Picton
Main South Line, just north of Dunedin.
Electricity
Rural areas of Horowhenua, Manawatu and Rangitikei are understood to still be without power.
Water supply
Horowhenua: There is still a shortage in Shannon, but partial supply has been restored.
Nelson-Tasman: The Maitai water pipeline under Tantragee treatment plant has been damaged and repairs may take up to 4-5 days. Nelson City residents have been asked to save water through the weekend.
Telecommunications
Telecom and Vodafone have some local outages, particularly in Auckland, Manawatu, Marlborough and Canterbury.
Welfare
The 0800 779 997 government helpline is still operating to provide information about welfare services. People can also contact their local councils.
- NZPA, NZHERALD STAFF
