Blue skies ahead: Clean-up under way in Gisborne, all weather warnings lifted

The East Cape Road is closed at the 14km mark. Photo / Tairāwhiti Civil Defence

The clean up is under way in Gisborne and Wairoa this morning after rain and wind battered the regions overnight - but one council says it has been lucky.

MetService has also lifted all weather warnings that have been haunting the country for the past few days.

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Hawke's Bay Regional Council, in a post on Facebook, said it was "were very fortunate that ex tropical cyclone Fili tracked to the east and didn't deliver the full extent of rain and wind".

Gisborne mayor Rehette Stoltz told AM no mass evacuations had been required overnight, but a number of homes were still without power and people were isolated after damage to a number of roads.

"So many trees down, so many powerlines damaged."

State Highway 35 from Gisborne to Potaka is closed until further notice. The Mata, Tuakau and Ihungia roads are also shut removing any possible state highway detours due to considerable damage from flooding, slips and fallen trees. East Cape Rd is closed at the 14km mark.

State Highway 38 in Frasertown is also closed due to surface flooding at the intersection of Pakowhai Rd.

All unsealed roads across the entire Tairawhiti network are closed to all heavy vehicles.

Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency teams and contractors were on the ground trying to open the roads up as quickly as they could so people could travel for Easter, Stoltz said.

She didn't have a timeframe about when they would be open, but told people to check the Waka Kotahi website as it would be updated as the roads progressively opened.

Stoltz said it was "touch and go" late yesterday afternoon as the Hikuwai River started to rise. A flood warning remains in place for the Hikuwai River.

"We were alerting people that they might have to evacuate, but in the end the river levels came down as predicted so in the end no mass evacuations like we had three weeks ago."

Gisborne District Council is also warning people that while the skies are clearing, they still needed to be aware of the conditions. "The ocean is rough and not very nice - so please resist the urge to go for a surf and treat all surface water as contaminated," a Facebook page said.

MetService has lifted all warnings with weather across the country as Cyclone Fili continues to move away from the North Island.

Wind and rain about Gisborne and the Wairoa District has eased this morning just in time for Easter.

The country is now basking in sunshine with the forecast for the long weekend mainly fine in the North Island with some rain in Northland and a few showers in Hawke's Bay and Gisborne on Sunday.

The South Island is slightly wetter on Saturday, but fine on Sunday.