As former cyclone Fili approaches New Zealand, Civil Defence in Tairāwhiti is warning people to expect heavy rain, gale force winds and large swells.
Many roads were damaged after flooding on the east coast three weeks ago. Photo: RNZ / Angus Dreaver
Tairāwhiti Civil Defence says people should stay home if they do not have to travel and move things away from low lying areas and river banks.
Fili is bearing down just three weeks after flooding on the east coast closed roads, broke bridges and inundated homes.
The MetService has issued a red level rain warning for Gisborne and the Wairoa District with up to 350mm of rain expected to accumulate by tomorrow afternoon.
"We're looking at this stage for Gisborne in a 24 hour period at 200-300mm of rain, that is a huge amount of rain and especially since they've already been quite wet" - Peter Little
MetService meteorologist Peter Little said the rain is expected to start in Gisborne around 10pm tonight.
"But the really heaviest rain is going to sort of get going during the overnight period and into tomorrow morning and even tomorrow afternoon is when we're expecting the heaviest rain in places like Gisborne."
The rain is expected to cause dangerous river conditions and significant flooding, with slips and floodwaters likely to disrupt travel making some roads impassable and potentially isolating communities.
Large northeast swells are expected to hit Bay of Plenty and Gisborne on Wednesday and early Thursday, with the risk of an abnormally high tide tomorrow afternoon and into early evening.
MetService has put an orange level wind warning out for Bay of Plenty, Gisborne, Hawke's Bay and southeast Taupo, including parts of the Desert Road with gusts of up to 120km/h forecast in most places, but gusts of up to 140km/h likely east of Whakatāne.
Heavy rain is also expected in Bay of Plenty with MetService forecasting up to 120mm of rain mainly tomorrow afternoon and evening.
Hawke's Bay's civil defence controller Ian Macdonald earlier today said an emergency co-ordination centre in Hastings had been set up, in preparation for the storm.
He said if people living in the Wairoa district live close to waterways or steep slopes, they should be ready to evacuate.
Gisborne District mayor Rehette Stoltz said they have been working non-stop since the last storm.
She said officials this week are balancing the recovery, with planning for the next deluge.
Wairoa Mayor Craig Little said some farmland in the district has only dried up in the past few days and some roads are still down to one lane after they were damaged during the last bout of flooding.
He hopes the storm heads further east than forecast, and out to sea.
Tairāwhiti farmer Sam Hain said there is only so much that can be done to prepare for a storm like Fili.
He farms sheep and beef about 50km west of Gisborne and today had his chainsaw ready to cut up trees and the fork is on his tractor ready to clear the roads.
But he said being out there during the storm actually causes damage rather than preventing it.
"What I mean by that is by driving around all you do is all the stock run to the gate hoping they're going to get shifted and you just create mud.
"So it's actually a bit of a stand back and wait sort of attitude, whereby you wait for the rain to pass and damage to be done and then we just go out and clear culverts and assess the damage."
Hain said it is important that farmers talk to each other for support as the storm passes through.