Gisborne Mayor Rehette Stoltz said police and Fire and Emergency New Zealand (Fenz) were working tirelessly to evacuate at-risk residents before nightfall.
Tairāwhiti emergency management manager Ben Green said 130 residents had either been evacuated or had self-evacuated.
Due to the “high level of anxiety” in the region, many of those evacuations happened before the state of emergency was declared or before MetService upgraded the warning, Green said. The majority of the evacuations were in Te Karaka, who had either gone to the Te Karaka Area School or are staying with friends and family.
Multiple roads were closed due to flooding, including SH2 from Napier to Wairoa, SH2 from Matawai to Ormon, SH5 from Taupō to Eskdale and SH35 Okitu to Ruatōria.
The major road closures almost completely isolated Gisborne by road.
There were also a significant number of landslides across the region too impacting at least 61 local roads that were closed or significantly obstructed, authorities said. Some 153 homes were without power across the district.
MetService’s head of weather communication Lisa Murray said some of the heaviest rain was expected to have fallen overnight.
This morning, the rain is expected to ease slightly, but Murray warned locals not be complacent as the weather will be “reinvigorated” again on Saturday.
“It will ease off [today], and I guess the message really is for people, just because you see an easing trend in the rain, don’t take any risks,” Murray said.
“There is more rain coming Saturday and Sunday. It’s not worth taking a risk with a rising river or stream or potentially isolating yourself by relying on that going down so you can cross them.”
Some 60mm to 90mm of rain is anticipated from Thursday at midnight to Friday at 6pm, according to MetService. While 200mm to 300mm of rainfall is predicted for locations north of Uawa from Friday through midday Sunday, with widespread heavy rain expected over the entire region.
Parts of Tairāwhiti have already recorded more than 100mm in the past 24 hours. Peak intensities may be as high as 15mm to 25mm per hour, forecasters warned.
Mayor Stoltz said residents in the region are emotionally drained after already suffering through this year’s severe weather events.
“We are working tirelessly to try and reconnect our community to get our roading network up to speed to rebuild the infrastructure that was ripped apart by two cyclones earlier this year and we are just not getting a break,” Stoltz said.
Te Karaka residents were especially fearful after being one of the regions worst hit by Cyclone Gabrielle in February.
Local man John Coates, 64, died in the floodwaters that engulfed his Te Karaka home during the devastating event.
Because of the massive risk of slips, the Gisborne District Council is urging residents to report any strange movement around their homes, whether it involves the land or buildings.
Rachel Maher is an Auckland-based reporter who covers breaking news. She has worked for the Herald since 2022.
