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The flood-ravaged Far North is bracing itself for more rain today.
The MetService this morning issued a severe weather warning for parts of Northland, predicting rain could become heavy -- with up to 80mm possible in some eastern areas by Monday.
"This is a lot less rain than the region experienced last week and should not be consistently heavy throughout the area. However, the rain could be significant where catchments are already saturated," forecaster Bob Lake said.
The heaviest rain was expected to fall in areas north of Paihia this morning then spread southwards in the afternoon and evening.
Easterly winds were forecast to strengthen.
Whangarei District Council spokeswoman Pauline Rose urged people to be calm but alert.
"Low-lying flood-prone areas are vulnerable once again and slips, falling trees and dropouts are expected, particularly in areas where soils have already been weakened," she said.
"People are advised to stay calm but alert, to take care when travelling and to continue to respond positively as they did with the events of last week."
The region is in cleanup mode after being battered by a storm last week in which heavy rains and high winds caused flooding, damaged properties and left many without power.
Auckland and the Coromandel were also affected by last week's storm and with more wet weather on the way a close watch was being kept on these areas.
The MetService said showers for forecast and a brief period of heavy rain could hit the Coromandel Peninsula tomorrow morning, but at this stage it was not expected to reach warning levels.
As at this morning power had been restored to all but about 60 of the 26,000 Powerco customers from the Coromandel Peninsula to the Hauraki Plains left without power after last week's storm.
In Auckland and Northland line crews were yesterday still working to restore power after the storm and most homes and businesses were expected to be back on line by the end of the weekend.
Further north Far North district mayor Yvonne Sharp said tenacity, resilience, brave faces and smiles were some of the memories she would treasure after an extensive tour of the hardest hit areas.
The Far North cleanup from the storm was likely to continue for weeks.
The state of emergency in the Far North was lifted yesterday as the storm focus moved from emergency management to cleaning up.
About 70 homes in the Far North region have been left uninhabitable.
- NZPA
