Tents were left broken and strewn across the Puriri Bay campground in Northland after heavy rain caused flooding on Saturday night. Photo: RNZ / Supplied
Some people are still isolated in Northland after heavy rain caused havoc in the region with more set to hammer the top of the North Island.
Up to 200 millimetres of rain lashed Northland on Sunday, causing flooding and landslides.
Unhappy campers stuck at the Puriri Bay Campsite in eastern Northland were waiting for crews to clear the road of slips.
Alison Giblin from Matapouri was at Puriri Bay with her husband when the camp flooded early Sunday morning.
"We were in a tent and woke up to find our mattress floating in about two feet of water. It was a nasty surprise... Everything was completely soaked, our bag of clothes was completely soaked, our food," she said.
"Just spent a couple of hours to-ing and fro-ing, wading through the flood water to get our stuff to higher ground. Meanwhile a lot of other people had just abandoned their tents. There's a whole lot of abandoned tents and equipment lying around."
Camper Alison Giblin woke up to a floating mattress at Puriri Bay in Northland. Photo: RNZ / Supplied
She said enormous slips had blocked the way home.
"We walked down earlier today and looked at the slips, and they looked quite substantial. I don't know how long it will take the diggers to get here."
She estimated about 100 people were at the campsite.
Giblin said she had brought a van to store food, which they were now using for shelter.
"Even though we were in our tent, we brought a van with us because it had refrigeration and we were staying for a week and wanted to keep our food cold," she explained.
"So we're lucky enough to have a bed. We've migrated to the van, the tent is just totalled."
Whangārei mayor Ken Couper. Photo: Supplied / LDR
Whangārei mayor Ken Couper told Morning Report a number of people were still isolated in the Department of Conservation campsite at Puriri Bay, next to the Whangaruru Harbour.
He said they were not short on food or supplies, but he will be looking to provide them with fuel for generators.
Couper said the main focus was on making sure they were ready for the next deluge of rain before the clean-up could begin.
Flooding in Mimiwhangata near Whangārei, on Sunday morning. Photo: RNZ
MetService had issued a heavy rain watch for Northland from 6pm on Monday until 6pm on Tuesday. It said periods of heavy rain, with thunderstorms and localised downpours were possible.
The watch had a moderate chance of being upgraded to a warning, the forecasting agency said.
There were also heavy rain watches in place for Auckland north of the Harbour Bridge and the Coromandel Peninsula from midnight.
Earth Sciences New Zealand, formely Niwa, said the heaviest rain for the region was likely to be on Wednesday.
We're expecting a busy week of weather around NZ as a subtropical low forms and moves south toward the country
— NIWA Weather (@NiwaWeather) January 18, 2026
Northland will see periods of rain early in the week, with the heaviest rain likely Wed-Wed night
By Thursday, rain (possibly heavy) could overspread other parts of NZ pic.twitter.com/5qOgXiGk2n
In addition to the rain, MetService said strong easterlies were expected in the north of the North Island, and there was low confidence that a wind warning would be needed for Northland and Auckland.
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