Residents in parts of Gisborne are facing more clean-up after heavy rain overwhelmed parts of the stormwater system overnight.
Roading crews have spent today trying to clear blocked drains and culverts that caused much of the flooding.
"Heavy rain has caused drains to flood and creeks to rise to about two metres," Tairāwhiti Civil Defence said about 5am today.
"There is severe surface flooding for the whole of the Mangapapa."
Many locals 1News spoke to were now wondering when the run of bad weather would end — with successive weeks of heavy rain beginning to take a toll on residents.
Mangapapa resident Margaret Gardner said she awoke to see the damage left by the storm.
"We've got trees, we've got fence posts we have to get rid of," she said. "It's just really depressing."
Rehette Stoltz said there was 'massive rain' in the region overnight. (Source: Breakfast)
A nearby neighbour, Sandra Williams, said her son had to use a family digger to deal with gravel that had washed away from their driveway.
Some residents decided to evacuate their homes — while others stayed put with a nervous eye on the rising water levels.
Fulton Hogan division manager Adrian van Zyl said his crews had been trying to clear blocked culverts all day. He spoke to 1News from a flood-affected property.
"The water's been higher than this fence. It's jumped right across the road. It's probably been a good sort of metre over the road," he said.
He said it was "desponding" with the ongoing run of bad weather and its impact on the roading infrastructure.
"More and more is coming and it's happening all the time now," he said.
John Gardner, another resident in Mangapapa, said he was lucky that his fence was still standing, unlike his neighbour's.
"At least I've got a fence I can stand up here. The next fence up is not there at all. Not a stick," he said.
About 15 families chose to evacuate from their homes overnight in the small town of around 5000 people.
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