A victim found 80km away from where the person went missing in the Lockyer Valley demonstrates the massive search and rescue task ahead, authorities say.

Owners and management of Te Aute College have taken the rare step of seeking a Commissioner to help save the historic Hawke's Bay school from extinction after 156 years as a stalwart of Maori education in New Zealand.

New Zealand could face strong winds and rain from a tropical cyclone battering the Pacific Islands with winds of up to 225km/hr.

A row over developing Coromandel's Kennedy Bay could be solved by the sort of compromise proposed for nearby New Chums, one of the parties says.

The water is starting to recede in Queensland but the body count continues to rise in the devastated Lockyer Valley region where dozens of people remain missing.

Four whales stranded at Port Waikato yesterday are to be buried in sand dunes just metres from where they lay.

A NZ woman watched in horror as a wall of water swept through the tiny town of Murphys Creek, throwing debris around 'like matchsticks'.

'Oh my God, I'm being swept away, come and get me,' was the last thing a NZ woman heard from her son, phoning from floodwaters.

The NZ Civil Defence team helping residents of flood-stricken Queensland has been forced to return to the town of Condamine, as more floods again hit the town they had just left.

New Zealand Breakers import Gary Wilkinson is in doubt for Thursday's top-of-the-table ANBL match against the Cairns Taipans.

At least eight are dead and 72 unaccounted for after a wall of water rushed through the Australian city of Toowoomba.