The clean-up begins - again

Eastern Bay of Plenty Harbour Master Brian Spake walks toward Cobe Harvey's Karaka Ln home. Mrs Harvey and her neighbours have again been hard-hit by floodwaters.

After a sodden weekend, sunny weather is forecast as the clean-up effort begins around the region.

The remains of ex-tropical cyclone Ita hammered Rotorua and Whakatane since Thursday, bringing Rotorua 80mm of rain in just a few days and flooding homes in Whakatane and Ohope.

The only road still affected in the Rotorua district is State Highway 36 Tauranga Direct Rd between Rotorua and Tauranga, which was expected to remain closed until at least midday today.

Rotorua weatherman Brian Holden said the city had exceeded the month's average rainfall, but it still had a way to go before it was deemed the wettest April.

Mr Holden said to date, Rotorua had received about 160mm of rain this month; the monthly average is 124mm. He said much of that rain, about 80mm, had fallen over the past few days.

"It's a lot of rain [but] not flood-like proportions, especially in Rotorua because it doesn't tend to flood easily.

The Eastern Bay of Plenty didn't fare so well with 23 homes in Whakatane and Ohope damaged by flood water. Another 60 had less severe damage.

The storm caused households to be evacuated on Saturday night after an intense period of rain and others were left without power for the night.

Emergency crews rushed from job to job with flooding in a handful of shops in the town's central business district as well as surface flooding.

The Whakatane District Council was advising home owners on clean-up activities and the process for lodging insurance claims.

It was taking a "precautionary approach" to escarpment stability throughout the district until rain-sodden soil conditions improved.

The council was advising people living in landslide-prone areas to stay out of the parts of their homes nearest to escarpment faces. Residents were being told they should also check escarpment faces and if they were at all concerned about stability, self-evacuate to a safe location.

There should be a break in the rain from tomorrow - at least for a few days.

The Rotorua forecast for Tuesday is a few early showers before long fine spells. No rain is in the forecast for Wednesday with just the chance of a light shower on Thursday.

The bad news is that rain is expected again for the next long weekend starting on Anzac Day on Friday.