Watch NZH Local Focus: Edgecumbe residents evacuate

The order to evacuate Edgecumbe came around 8.30am - Whakatane District Council officials ordering the 2000 residents to leave for higher ground.

The Rangitaiki River - which flows through the centre of the Bay of Plenty town and under State Highway 2 - has now broken its banks - causing widespread flooding in the area.

One resident described how a concrete wall had "exploded" - broken apart by the force of the rising water levels.

Police and fire staff went door to door and telling people to get out - as water ran through the heart of the township.

Resident Fred Mansell was one of those evacuate:

"I was just trying to... move everything up high. They came running down and said get out, the wall's going to burst! As I was backing out I saw the water coming under the wall and spraying quite high up."

Metservice says up to 250 millimetres of rain has fallen in the region in the last 36 hours.

Residents are being asked to find refuge with friends or family members out of the flood zone. Whakatane's Town Hall has become a makeshift shelter for evacuees.

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