Weather for the Hawke's Bay is set to improve over the weekend after the remnants of Cyclone Donna brought several days of rain to the region.
On Thursday Metservice issued severe weather warnings for much of central and northern New Zealand with a severe weather watch for Hawke's Bay with rain falling overnight on Thursday and most of Friday.
Metservice meteorologist Sarah Haddon said showers would ease today as the tropical low that had brought a lot of rain to Hawke's Bay, Gisborne and the Bay of Plenty started to pull away to the southeast.
As the low moved away yesterday it brought a strong southerly flow with colder temperatures and winds to the region, she said.
In the 24 hours to 8pm yesterday the region saw 50-70mm of rainfall with some higher areas recording 100mm and temperatures between 10C and 18C.