Remnants of a tropical cyclone in the Pacific is set to hit the country next week, including the already flood-stricken East Coast.
Tropical cyclone Fili is currently swirling to the south of New Caledonia and MetService believes parts of the cyclone may travel to New Zealand on Wednesday.
Areas ofthe North Island are set to be hit, including Gisborne.
"Northern and eastern regions of the North Island, including Gisborne, look to be most at risk of seeing possible severe weather with the remnants of tropical cyclone Fili."
Gisborne District Council chief executive Nedine Thatcher Swann said the recovery is particularly tough on some communities that had only just completed work after the bad weather in November.
"It's still early days and the recovery is going to take a long time," she said.
"But we have a solid prioritisation process in place and the assessments and work around that are already underway."
In a flood event that was described as "biblical", some areas of the district had reportedly seen 540mm of rain over seven days, with Gisborne city recording 180mm overnight.
Over four days, 174.8mm had been recorded – twice the average amount for March.
Structural inspections still need to be completed on 200 bridges and large culverts, which are set to start shortly.
Some small rural and dead-end roads remain impassable, however, farmers cleared what they could, to allow four-by-four vehicle access.
The East Coast could be in for another round of severe weather. Photo / Supplied
"It will take a big effort to get everything fixed. It's critical to ensure we are able to restore access first temporarily and then with more permanent solutions," Swann said.
A critical route that was damaged was the Maungahauini Bridge at Tokomaru Bay, which cut off much of the East Coast.
A temporary fix is in place with a more permanent one to follow.
While there are still some uncertainty about how serious the cyclone could be, people are urged to keep up to date on the MetService website.
The cyclone is currently near New Caledonia and is forecast to reach Category 2 strength.
However, Weather Watch said the cyclone is in an area where it could grow to "severe" Category 3.
