Pipiriki Raetihi Rd to remain closed overnight after mud flow

The road between Pipiriki and Raetihi is closed after being covered in mud and logs. Photo / Supplied

Fears of flooding in the Rangitīkei district have eased following heavy rain on Monday night, but the Raetihi Pipipriki Rd remains closed overnight due to a mud flow.

The main road connecting the Whanganui River settlement of Pipiriki with the Ruapehu district is closed at about 6km outside of Pipiriki village.

The road is currently covered in mud and logs.

Ruapehu District Council said contractors were currently attending to the slip and hoped to get the road open as soon as possible, but it would remain shut over Tuesday night.

In the meantime, the only way out of the village is travelling south on the Whanganui River Road towards Whanganui city.

Civil Defence was on site at flooding in Hunterville on Monday night, monitoring Turakina River levels that were projected to rise overnight.

However, on Tuesday morning Rangitīkei District Council democracy and planning group manager Carol Gordon said things were "very much under control".

"The rain eased overnight and we didn't have as much as we were warned about, which was good," Gordon said.

"We've got crews out this morning just checking all the roads to make sure everything is all right, especially up in Hunterville. That's where we were hit the hardest.

"Hopefully the rain won't come to much over the next couple of days and things settle down. We'll be keeping an eye on everything here."

Sandbags protect the Shemozzle premises in Hunterville. Photo / Bevan Conley

Hunterville resident Claire Bruce had to be towed out of floodwaters on Aldworth Rd last night.

"My little mishap, I drove into floodwaters and the car just stopped. We had to get the tractor and pull it out. We are just waiting for the tow truck to pick it up and take it to the garage.

"I was in Marton last night and it was very, very heavy.

"We have a dam on our property. We drove up there last night and it was full."

Bruce said it was worse on Mangahoe Rd.

"It's a dreadful mess there. Someone has had the bridge to their house washed away. All his winter feed and his bailage is floating somewhere between there and Turakina.

"I've just had pictures from a friend there where the road is decimated and fences are all gone. We haven't had quite that much damage."

Water surrounds a house on State Highway 1 near Hunterville on Tuesday morning. Photo / Bevan Conley

Hunterville locals are calling last night's heavy rain "more of a near miss" after waking up this morning fairly unscathed.

One resident said 158mm of rain fell at her property last night.

At one point it was falling at a rate of 58mm an hour.

Another resident went out at 9pm on Monday to see the potential damage, saying water was about 50mm deep on the main road.

"It disbanded pretty quickly really."

There are several roading issues around the region on Tuesday.

Due to a slip near the intersection of SH1, SH54 at Vinegar Hill is under stop/go traffic control with a temporary speed limit of 30km/h from late morning on Tuesday. Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency says motorists can expect delays and asks them to pass with extra care. An update is expected at 3pm on Tuesday.

Horizons Regional Council has closed the Makino Floodgates to divert the floodwater away from Feilding.

The Makino floodgates on Tuesday morning. Photo / Horizons Regional Council

Feilding has significant local surface flooding.

Before last night the region's rivers were already full, due to the previous week's rain.

More rain is predicted and Horizons Regional Council incident controller Craig Grant will be monitoring the situation on Tuesday night and for the rest of the week.

Emergency services responded to dozens of callouts as heavy rain sparked flooding in Manawatū. Photos / Traffic Updates Horowhenua Kapiti Wellington

On Monday night homes were threatened, a welfare centre was activated in Feilding and hundreds of sandbags were brought in as torrential rain sparked flash flooding in Manawatū.

Police received "several reports" of flooding in the Rangitīkei and Manawatū districts, including central Feilding.

Two homes in Hunterville were threatened by floodwater, while a third was evacuated and contractors took around 500 sandbags to the properties.

On Monday night Fire and Emergency New Zealand central communications shift manager Carlos Dempsey told Stuff the service had responded to more than 30 callouts across Feilding.

The calls related to flooding to properties, and the service was not aware of any reports of injury or blocked access.

SH1 in Hunterville was closed on Monday night to all traffic except four-wheel-drives and the heavy rain caused several accidents.

A vehicle flipped on Turakina Rd near Marton. Police said the incident occurred after heavy rain led to a slip on Wanganui Rd. There were no obvious injuries, but the road was blocked for a time.

A ute crashed into a ditch in Feilding after the driver lost control while travelling through floodwaters on Lethbridge Rd shortly after 10pm. There were no reported injuries, police said.

Sandbags at the Hunterville music shop. Photo / Bevan Conley

Whanganui Airport got 32mm of rain overnight from 5pm to 8am on Tuesday. The heaviest was at 2am, when 6.6mm fell over an hour, which counts as heavy rain, MetService meteorologist Peter Little said.

The Ruapehu District didn't get much over that time - 4.6mm at Waiouru, and 10mm at Raetihi.

The largest amount of rain recorded in our region was at Palmerston North Airport, 59.7mm.

Hāwera got 22.6mm over that same time.

Ruapehu District Council communications manager Paul Wheatcroft said on Tuesday morning they hadn't had any Civil Defence calls as yet.

"I'm sure there'll be a few slips out on the roads, as there always is at this time, but the crews will be onto that.

"There's nothing like what's happening down in Feilding. They obviously got it a bit heavier down there than we did.

"There's still more rain to come though, isn't there? At this stage though, it's all good. Keep safe, and stay off the roads if you don't have to be on them."

In other weather information, Little said Whanganui was forecast for one of the highest temperatures in New Zealand on Wednesday.

It's forecast to get to 27C, due to a northeast flow across the North Island.

On Saturday Whanganui had a top temperature of 29.5C in the city, 28.7C at the airport.