Northland is expected to suffer a deluge tonight while snow and ice pose difficulty for motorists on the roads.

The Bay of Plenty is preparing for more heavy rain as more than 100 water-damaged houses still stand empty.

Heavy rain may ruin Queen's Birthday for North Islanders with another big low barrelling out of the north Tasman Sea.

The NSW town of Lennox Head will appeal to the state government to declare the area a natural disaster.

Flood waters in Canterbury and Otago have begun to recede as heavy rain eases, but there's no respite with snow forecast for tonight.

The eastern Bay of Plenty is in for a dose of heavy rain tonight while the south gets a respite.

Torrential rain has flooded homes overnight in the Bay of Plenty, sparking evacuations and more than 20 callouts to emergency services.

Emergency and Civil Defence teams were gearing up last night for a weather beating expected to hit within hours.

Are parts of New Zealand about to go under water?

Heavy rain and gales are expected to lash the main islands from tonight, with the MetService warning of one of the "bigger weather events" for some time.

Don't put the umbrellas away just yet. A storm bringing more heavy rain and winds is on its way to parts of the North Island.

The weekend’s rough weather in the North Island definitely marked a major turning point in our weather - this is just the start of wetter things to come.

Fierce thunderstorms and heavy rains uprooted trees, destroyed homes and killed at least 43 people in northern India.