The central Hawke's Bay settlement of Aramoana is expected to remain cut off for up to three weeks and some farmers face heavy financial losses after heavy rain and flooding pelted the region this week.
Civil Defence yesterday declared a state of emergency for the region after extreme weather forced the evacuation of more than 100 people from 14 coastal communities.
Up to five children were evacuated by helicopter from Aramoana and eight people by four-wheel drive from Mangakuri today.
It was expected to take up to three weeks to reopen access to Aramoana, and access to the southern end of Pourerere Beach was closed indefinitely, Central Hawke's Bay Civil Defence local controller Te Aroha Cook said.
Other coastal roads in Central Hawke's Bay were still under mud, slips and water, with many slips unstable, including some near private residences and other buildings.
State Highway 2 between Napier and Wairoa had opened with drivers warned to take extreme caution after slips were cleared.
All coastal communities now had power, although the power supply at the coastal town of Waimarama, about 30km south of Hastings, will be shut down tomorrow morning until midday. Residents were also warned to boil drinking water.
A large slip had damaged the historic Aramoana Woolshed, lifting it from its foundation.
"We suspect the building itself is basically in a critical condition and unlikely to be saveable," Ms Cook said.
A number of baches and homes had also been damaged along the coast.
Heavy rain and winds also lashed Taupo, Taranaki, Manawatu and the Far North yesterday.
The worst of the damage appeared centred on about 6km of isolated coastline, from Waimarama in the north to Porongahau, said Federated Farmers' Hawke's Bay president Kevin Mitchell.
"That coastal band's just been hammered by the storm. Heavy slipping on the steeper coastal hills, and obviously debris on the valley floors and anywhere where fences were on ridge tops, they've been swept away in a lot of areas," he told NZPA.
Farmhouses did not appear to have been damaged.
There had been reports of stock losses, but it was hard to know until the cleanup began, he said.
"I don't think it'll be significant, but you only need one farmer to have a crop on a flat in a valley somewhere and a couple of hundred lambs worth over a hundred dollars each to be a significant loss, so hopefully that hasn't been the case."
Up to 530mm of rain had fallen in two days, so it was a "really significant event". It had been a long time since such an intense storm had hit the region, Mr Mitchell said.
"Some of the older guys are searching their memories and they talk about the 1938 flood."
A Federated Farmers team will meet early next week to organise the recovery for farmers, with help sought from central and local government.
"Looking at some of the properties today, they're going to have a really large financial hit this year," Mr Mitchell said.
"This region's gone through six seasons of either drought or very dry. It's the first autumn in six years they've grown any decent grass, and obviously with good prices it's the first financial season they've been anything like buoyant, and this comes along."
It would be some weeks before the cost became clear.
Farmers could get some tax relief, and physical help to clear up through the Taskforce Green progamme, and Federated Farmers would provide support as well.
