Our wet week: Wettest start for parts of North Island

Parts of the North Island are up to the wettest start of any year since records began, with Rotorua being drenched with more than 850mm of rain so far this year.

Data from NIWA obtained by the Herald shows that rain fall to date in 2017 had reached record levels in Whangaparaoa, Albany, Mangere, Warkworth and Rotorua.

Although New Zealand may have avoided the full force of Cyclone Debbie, the storm's tail left chaos in its wake when it swept across the country this week.

Hundreds of 111 calls reporting flooding, slips and the need for rescue operations left emergency services and civil defence workers scrambling.

In the 24 hours to 5pm on Thursday the fire service had responded to 348 weather-related incidents.

Assessing the damage to flood-swept Edgecumbe Prime Minister Bill English said the event was at least as significant as the Kaikoura earthquake.

A Whakatane District Council spokesperson said people evacuated from their homes on Thursday could face a 72 hour wait before they're allowed to return.

The flooding in the North Island has today closed more schools and early learning centres, the Ministry of Education says.

A total of 67 schools and 52 early childhood centres in the North Island were closed by the big wet, with the closures affecting 10,817 pupils and 1814 pre-schoolers.

A spokesman for Suncorp, an insurance company which owns Vero, said customers had lodged more than 300 weather-related claims by 8am on Thursday.

The company had so far received a similar number of claims to those that came in after the tropical deluge that hit New Zealand in March, the spokesman Tony Reid said.

"[B]ut this may change as the storm progresses. We expect this number to rise substantially over the coming days."

IAG Insurance, which represents NZI, State, AMI and Lumley, had received more than 250 claims by Thursday morning, with most coming from the Auckland region and Central North Island, a spokeswoman for the company said.

Staff at AA Insurance were bracing themselves as they expected more claims to pour in over the weekend, spokeswoman Amelia Macandrew said.

"That being said, there is no rush to contact us. Safety should be the first priority for people affected by the weather."

Weathering the storm - the aftermath of ex-Cyclone Debbie

• Auckland was pelted with more rain in 24 hours than it usually get during the entire month of April. Parts of the region got up to 150mm rain on Wednesday and Thursday.
• The Bay of Plenty was hammered with up to 250mm of rain fall, and Coromandel up to 200mm.
• Metservice recorded 103mm of rain fall on Wednesday at Tauranga Airport. The average monthly rainfall recorded at the airport was 117mm.
• Thousands of Bay of Plenty residents, including all 2000 in the town of Edgecumbe, had to evacuate on Thursday due to mass flooding
• Edgecumbe's mayor called the flood a "one in 500 year" event
• A slip which hit a Kohimarama apartment block sparked a search and rescue mission on Wednesday as one resident was believed to be unaccounted for. The person was actually out at the time and arrived at the scene later in the day safe and well
• The tourist mecca of Kaikoura was cut off from the rest of the South Island for the second time in six months when State Highway 1 was blocked by several slips on Thursday - the road was closed for months following the November 14 earthquake
• About 200 people evacuated from Whanganui due to fears the river would flood bigger than at any other time on record returned on Friday morning as the mayor lifted the state of civil emergency