A heavy rain warning for Westland has expired, but heavy rain warnings are in place for Coromandel, Bay of Plenty and Mount Taranaki in the North Island, and inland Marlborough at the top of the South Island.
The weather caused havoc on the Coast, closing roads, causing power outages and cutting off the township of Fox Glacier.
State Highway 6 is closed in several places and a washout between Fox Glacier and Franz Josef was likely to take days to fix, NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi said yesterday.
MetService meteorologist Stephen Glassey said in the past hour the heaviest rain had been recorded in Auckland and Northland.
Overnight, Mount Taranaki more than over 100mm of rain, while Marlborough saw between 60mm and 70mm.
Nelson's main waterfront route is open after closing overnight due to the bad weather in the area.
Nelson City Council communications manager, Paul Shattock, said it was wet and windy overnight as expected, and Rocks Road was closed as a precaution.
He said the road reopened at 2am and he had not heard any reports of weather-related issues in the region overnight.
Marlborough, West Coast evacuations
Dozens of Marlborough households were yesterday being asked to evacuate by 9am today because homes could be flooded if a nearby river stopbank failed.
Heavy rain in the upper Wairau catchment is expected to cause river levels to rise significantly.
Civil Defence was asking 70 households in Spring Creek to move out for the day as a precaution.
However, the Marlborough District Council lifted the evacuation order this morning, saying the risk of a stopbank breach had fallen.
Glyn Walters from Marlborough Civil Defence and Emergency told Morning Report the river level was considerably lower than what was modelled last night.
Earlier, MetService meteorologist Mathapelo Makgabutlane told RNZ that in the past 24 hours Blenheim received 54mm of rain - its April average is about 58mm.
"Currently, there is still some rain over that area and it is expected to continue moving eastwards and eventually off the country later on today."
"That area has received a lot of rain over the last 24 hours, around 150 to 200mm in those ranges. That would have a flow-on effect down the rivers."
There were also evacuations in Harihari, north of Franz Josef, last night.
West Coast Emergency Management group controller Te Aroha Cook says 17 people from three homes were evacuated to the Harihari civil defence centre last night due to flooding.
She says those who did not have somewhere else to go were put up in a hotel for the night.
Speaking from Nelson, RNZ reporter Sam Gee said there were concerns the Wairau River is going to rise significantly this morning and that residents had been evacuated.
Marlborough District Council flood data shows the Wairau river was flowing at just under 1200 cubic metres at 6am, so it hadn't reached its level one flood warning, but it was expected to start rising after 9am.
Drenching for North Island
MetService's Makgabutlane said Northland, Auckland and the Coromandel Peninsula were likely to see the most rain today.
She said the ground was a lot drier compared with last year, which could help avoid severe impacts of slips and surface flooding.
Some parts of Auckland had already seen 20mm/hour, she said.
"That top of the North Island is still the place to watch. We've got that severe thunderstorm watch in place until 2pm and that will be looked at again this morning as well as all those areas that are under a heavy rain warning in the North Island."
- additional reporting ODT Online
