There are heavy rain watches for Tasman and much of the North Island. Photo: Screengrab / MetService
MetService says there's been more rain for the flood-damaged Nelson Tasman district overnight, with more to come.
Two heavy rain watches at the top of the South Island cover the Tasman District north of Lake Rotoroa, and Marlborough northwest of the Awatere Valley.
MetService meteorologist Mmathapelo Makgabutlane told Morning Report there had been upwards of 50 millimetres of rain in parts of the region in the last 12 hours.
"Overnight, it was bit of a wet night. Obviously, not quite as wet as we've seen recently certainly," she said.
"But in the last 12 hours, in the ranges, but actually most of those areas in Tasman, have seen upwards of 50 millimetres ... and elsewhere, between about 20-40 millimetres.
"Definitely quite noticeable numbers that we've seen so far."
Makgabutlane said last night was that first wave of the weather expected, and the next big wave was forecasted for Friday, which is moving northerly across the country.
She said the difference between this big weather system moving through and the previous one was the speed of it.
She expected it to move quite quickly, but while still bringing decent rainfall.
On Wednesday, Tasman's deputy mayor said residents should hope for the best but prepare for the worst.
The region was recovering from widespread flooding that wrecked homes and farmland. Since the flooding, 15 homes have been yellow stickered and one has been red stickered. They were in the Motueka Valley, Tapawera and Wai-iti.
Nelson Mayor Tim King said the council would "almost certainly" stand up an emergency operations centre.
"There will be a meeting held about that this afternoon and then obviously, over the next 12 hours, there will be decisions to be made as to how that all rolls out," he said.
"The key thing at the moment is for everybody who is likely to be affected to get the information to make their own calls and plans alongside the council, Civil Defence and all those other agencies preparing for their potential role."
King said fresh orange rain warnings were unwelcome for the already sodden region.
"It's almost unbelievable just how wet it has been and continues to be day on, day on, day. Even the brief days of respite it's still not hot and drying it's just kind of not raining," he said.
"Given the current situation, the waterlogged nature of the soil, the damage already incurred we'll definitely be taking a precautionary approach.
"Hopefully we get through this weekend without too much worse impacts but even what we're already dealing with is going to take some time and resources will definitely be stretched."
King said the smaller streams and tributaries were a key concern, because much of the damage to houses, land and rivers themselves had been in smaller catchments.
He advised people to have a plan, be prepared and make decisions early.
"If people have any issues or concerns around accommodation or support or help, even if there's not a state of emergency declared, ring the council number. We're in recovery there's certainly teams in place around welfare," he said.
King said farmers were doing it tough.
"It's hard to explain how wet it is in this region, so even people who weren't massively affected by flood damage, just keeping up with [livestock] feed given the sodden nature of the soil is proving really challenging. There are a lot of parts to this event and it seems to be just going on and on which adds to the stress that everyone's feeling."
Teams are out in force across the Nelson Tasman region working hard to clear roads, assess and fix infrastructure and environmental damage. Photo: Nelson Tasman Civil Defence
Marlborough Emergency Management group manager Matt Kerr advised residents to be prepared and said there was a risk some situations could be exacerbated in already fragile areas.
Roads including State Highway 6 from Nelson to Blenheim, SH1 between Picton and Seddon and SH63 from Renwick to Kawatiri Junction could be affected by the weather given the extensive heavy rain over the past few weeks, he said.
Elsewhere, there are heavy rain watches for much of the North Island.
Northland and Auckland are forecasted to be hit earliest, with a heavy rain watch from 6am Friday until 10pm.
The Coromandel Peninsula, Waikato and Great Barrier Island can expect heavy rain from 9am Friday until 2am Saturday.
There is also a heavy rain watch for Taranaki about and north of the Maunga from 11am tomorrow and it is likely it will be upgraded to an orange warning Thursday morning.
MetService is warning of possible streams and rivers rising rapidly as a result of the heavy rain, which could cause surface flooding and slips.
A heavy rain watch has also been issued for the Bay of Plenty and Rotorua from 1pm Friday until 5am Saturday.
Makgabutlane said other heavy rain watches in the North Island could still be upgraded.
She said showers were expected on Saturday, but the bulk of the rain would fall
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