Severe weather warning for Northland

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

Get under cover Northland - it's your turn next.

Weather forecasters last night told those living north of Auckland to batten down the hatches as a borderline tropical cyclone cruises in.

And the Queen City is not expected to escape, even as Hawke's Bay tries to dry out after several days of a torrential dousing.

Weatherwatch forecaster Philip Duncan was predicting isolated pockets of flooding between midday today and the early hours of Tuesday.

He said up to 200mm of rain was expected to cause slips and power outages in the upper North Island.

While the edge of a high over Auckland would act like a dome, pushing the low towards the Tasman Sea, there was also a risk of rain heavy enough to cause flooding, particularly on Monday.

The Far North was still recovering from last week's downpour with the Mitimiti Bridge 40km south of Cape Reinga expected to reopen last night after it was washed out early on Thursday morning.

Houhoura Senior Constable Chris Yarnton said 40 tourists and 200 residents were cut off from the rest of the country. The road to Cape Reinga reopened last night.

Te Hapua resident Walter Waitai found out he was isolated when the Sky repairman called him to say he couldn't make it.

"I was disappointed. I haven't had Sky for two weeks."

Duncan said the high would save Hawke's Bay and Gisborne from more bad weather.

Hawke's Bay Civil Defence group co-ordinator Nigel Simpson said a number of baches and private properties were damaged and the historic Aramoana Woolshed was washed off its foundations.

State Highway 2 from Bayview to Wairoa was reopened temporarily with a 30km/h restriction but was closed after drivers failed to obey the limit.

An area of particular concern was at White Pine north of Napier, where large rocks fell on the road.

Wairoa lost its water supply yesterday after a large slip at Frasertown, forcing schools to stay closed tomorrow.

Wairoa District Council public information officer Sonia Anderson said backup tanks at Tawhara were gravity fed and stopped working because of a lack of pressure. A tanker on Queen St supplied water.

Meanwhile, the truck driver killed in a head-on collision with another truck during the storm in the Bay has been described as a "gentle giant".

Adrian King, 38, died instantly after the collision on State Highway 2, 5km north of Takapau, about 90km south of Napier.

His partner Ruth Johnson said Adrian was a loving man.

"He was a gentle giant. He always wanted to be a truck driver and he loved his job," she said.

He had worked at AS Logistics for about 10 years.