Hawke's Bay downpour: Roads closed as close to a month of rain falls overnight

A car crashed along the water-logged Waimarama Rd early on Friday morning. Photo / Warren Buckland

The Central Hawke's Bay district is facing a growing repair bill worth tens of millions of dollars to fix its roading network after further flooding and slips.

A huge deluge of rain hit Hawke's Bay on Thursday night and Friday morning with Central Hawke's Bay the worst district impacted.

That included 92mm of rain being recorded at Te Pohue.

Road closures, slips and flooding were a common sight across that district on Friday morning - compounding problems already being faced by CHB District Council.

A road completely flooded in Elsthorpe on Friday morning. Photo / Warren Buckland

The council said before the latest deluge, the district already had 35 major slips requiring significant repair at a cost estimated between $25 million to $40 million.

"Our rural roading network has been severely damaged by heavy rainfall, strong winds and earthquake tremors over the last three months," a council statement read.

"Over the past two days the district has experienced yet more heavy rain and flooding, and the ground is now beyond saturation point.

"Damage to roads has worsened over the last 24 hours and is expected to deteriorate further in the coming days and weeks."

A tree surrounded by flooding in Central Hawke's Bay. Photo / Warren Buckland

While the heavy (orange) rain warning has been lifted, some further rain is forecast for the weekend.

Meanwhile, police also received a report of a crash along a water-logged Waimarama Rd near Craggy Range.

Police confirmed the car crashed just north of Waimarama Bridge, about 12.30am on Friday.

The call about the crash came in from another motorist who passed the vehicle on the side of the road, but there was no-one at the scene at the time.

Flooding in the rural area of Elsthorpe. Photo / Warren Buckland

MetService meteorologist Peter Little said Napier recorded 49mm at Hawke's Bay Airport during the deluge on Thursday night and Friday morning.

That was close to its historical average for September of 60.9mm. It has now recorded 146mm for the month.