KEY POINTS:
Health threats, lost farm pasture and damage to property and infrastructure are emerging as major concerns after the disastrous flooding in Northland last week.
The Far North District Council was last night continuing to urge people in some areas of the Bay of Islands to boil all drinking
water.
Water from taps remains discoloured and muddy.
Although repairs have been made to the council's damaged Paihia-Waitangi water supply system, problems are continuing with water quality there and also in Kawakawa.
District council spokesman Rick McCall said yesterday people in Paihia, Haruru Falls, Waitangi, Opua and Kawakawa should boil their drinking water for one to two minutes.
Turbidity in the water is not expected to decrease to a safe level of water quality until late today.
A break in a sewage main servicing most of Whangarei city was spilling large amounts of raw effluent into the upper Whangarei Harbour for most of yesterday.
Sewage bubbled to the surface after pressure increased on the pipe after the rain deluge, causing a break in the main.
Gary Oldcorn, city waste and drainage manager, said about 10,000 cubic metres of sewage would have flowed into the harbour by the time the break was fixed.
The event adds to contamination from flood and stormwater running into the harbour and health authorities are advising people to stay out of the sea in Whangarei and the Bay of Islands until next week.
Shellfish in eastern coastal areas affected by floodwaters and run-off should not be collected or eaten because of likely water contamination, said Northland medical officer of health Dr Jonathan Jarman.
Anyone coming into contact with flood-related water should see a doctor if they get an injury in which skin is broken, he said.
Meanwhile, the Far North council says Thursday's deluge could leave an overall repair bill of up to $80 million in its district, mainly in the Bay of Islands area.
Of this, about $20 million would be for damage to local roads, clearing slips, fixing washouts and repairing bridges and culverts.
The remaining $60 million includes damage to property and infrastructure.
Council staff went door-to-door at the weekend surveying the worst-affected areas in Paihia, Opua and Russell to more accurately assess the extent of damage to properties. Preliminary results from the survey are expected to be known within 24 hours.
Only State Highway 11A, between Opua and Kawakawa, remains closed to general traffic, and it is expected to reopen tomorrow.
The Stone Store traffic and pedestrian bridge in the Kerikeri Basin, buffeted by raging stormwaters last week, was expected to reopen last night.
Elsewhere, in the Whangarei district, the coastal Helena Bay Road remains blocked and will stay that way for several weeks.
Several other secondary roads are expected to be closed for up to eight weeks.
In the heavily flood-hit Hikurangi swamp area north of Whangarei, dairy farm stock losses were described as small by Farmers of NZ Northland operations manager Bill Guest.
One farm lost 170 young stock and dairy cows, but many farmers had heeded the rain warnings.
He said loss of pasture was the big issue, and added: " "It'll take about 15 days to get the water off some farms. We're looking to creditors to spread farmers' payments."
He said most farmers had insurance cover for interruptions to income but even so, it could cost up to $200,000 to return some properties to normal.
* Civil Defence Minister Rick Barker flew over the worst flood-affected areas on Saturday and is expected to take a report and a proposed aid plan to the Cabinet meeting in Wellington today.
