Weather: Shops flood in Wairoa as heavy rain falls

Shops are flooding in Wairoa as the heavy overnight rain continues to "hose down" in the area.

MetService has issued a new severe weather watch for Hawke's Bay, Gisborne and eastern Bay of Plenty.

Up to 80mm fell in the Wairoa district overnight with the township inundated around 3am.

The area remains under a heavy rain watch until 6pm on Wednesday, with the potential to upgrade to warning level tonight with the downpour expected to increase.

Mayor Craig Little said the drains on the main street were struggling under the amount of rain.

"It's absolutely hosing down, the drains can't keep up."

He said the council had just learned about half a dozen shops on Marine Parade have water in the door, and was assessing how to respond.

Little said while the amount of water appeared to be minimal - it didn't really matter.

"Once it gets through all your carpets and all your furniture you've got to lift everything up and dry it out," he said.

He said crews were down there doing what they could to mitigate the impact, "because there's nothing saying the rain's going away".

Little said as a farmer, the rainfall was needed, but anxiety during heavy rainfall was a real thing after Cyclone Gabrielle.

Rebecca from Books on Parade said it flooded in the early hours of the morning and they may have lost a couple of hundred dollars worth of stock.

"The flooding has come through from the back door right through the entire shop to the front door."

The doors were still open to customers while they run a rug doctor and clean the place up, she said.

The owner of Osler's bakery next door to the bookshop, Sarah Johanson said the rain was coming down hard when she started work at 2am.

She said she feels for some of her neighbours who have a big clean-up on their hands, and that the timing could not be worse in the lead up to Christmas.

"Our shop was not damaged, but Richies (Market) - they had a river coming out of their front door ... they just had the doors open letting the water run out into the street. Anytime is not ideal, this time is less than ideal," she told Midday Report.

Up to seven businesses in Wairoa's main centre have been impacted by the flooding.

The area has been pummelled by rainfall over the past 12 hours, and a heavy rain watch remains in place until Wednesday evening.

Civil defence emergency manager Juanita Savage said several businesses were cleaning up after surface flooding came through the doors.

The excess water was the result of overflowing drains, not the Wairoa river breaching its banks, she said.

Meanwhile, the Bay of Plenty is expected to be hit by severe southeasterly winds approaching galeforce in exposed places for the next 24 hours from 3pm today.

And down south the temperatures have plummeted to unseasonable lows, with Queenstown, Wanaka, and Milford South starting the morning in single digits.

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