Stormy path of destruction

The tail of Cyclone Ita was predicted to "pack a decent punch" by MetService and it did not disappoint.

Roads and basements throughout Mount Maunganui, Papamoa and Te Puke were flooded when 41.4mm of rain fell between 6am and 8am yesterday.

Fire fighters had responded to 28 flooding-related calls between about 7am and 10am yesterday. About 15 calls were backed up at one stage.

Tauranga police Sergeant Simone Mills said there was surface flooding on Maunganui Rd, Tui St, Links Ave and Tay St.

Carysfort St residents Courtenay and Steve Robinson woke to find the intersection of Carysfort St and Huia Ave waist deep in water and the floor of their garage covered in about 30cm of water.

Flooding in the area had been a problem for about 10 years and last year about $20,000 worth of Mr Robinson's tools were destroyed when heavy rain flooded their garage.

Despite their frustration the couple remained good humoured about it and took to the flooded street in their dinghy after they had moved their cars to higher ground and cleared everything from the garage floor.

Aucklanders Philip and Helen Beilby have been camping at the Mount Maunganui Beachside Holiday Park for 43 years and have never seen it so flooded.

They woke to find their campervan in a pool of water about 60cm deep thanks to the combination of a very high tide and heavy rain.

"It's the first time in 40 years we've had to move sites," he said. "It was a lake of water."

In Pongakawa yesterday part of the roof of a house collapsed due to too much rain.

The Rotorua Direct Rd was closed on Thursday afternoon and most of yesterday due to a large slip near Te Matai Rd blocking both lanes.

The MetService reported 62mm of rain fell in Tauranga on Thursday but wind was the real problem.

High winds and falling trees resulted in 6700 Western Bay of Plenty Powerco customers losing power on Thursday, however Powerco acting electricity operations manager Phil Marsh said about half of the 25,000 outages could have been avoided if owners trimmed of felled trees near powerline.

By 5pm Friday the Bay of Plenty fire service had responded to 76 callouts of 1071 nationwide.

Traffic was reduced to one lane on State Highway 29 in the Kaimai Ranges after downed power lines at Poripori Rd and a driver was trapped inside his truck in Te Puke after telephone lines fell on the vehicle.

Some clearlite from the roof of the flat above Bay City Music Works on Devonport Rd was ripped off in the wind and a window had been broken.

Around the corner a Burger King sign fell onto a car.

Classic Builders operations manager Paul Taylor was sitting in his office on Thursday afternoon when he thought he heard a sign blow over.

Instead he looked out the window to find a 6m tree in front of the office on the corner of 15th Ave and Fraser Rd tree had flattened the fence and dented the corner of the company ute.

The first day of the BMX New Zealand Nationals was moved from yesterday to today and Mount Mainstreet's Easter Family Festival was also cancelled due to weather.

Showers were predicted for today and tomorrow but Jazz Festival organisers said the event would go ahead rain or shine.