Children are among those unaccounted for after a landslide at a Mt Maunganui campsite, the search continues for a man swept away in floodwaters in Auckland and two people are still missing after a landslide in Bay of Plenty.
More than 5600 customers were still without power on Thursday night, down from 16,000 overnight and many spent the day without electricity.
The majority of outages are in the eastern Waikato, and significant pockets in Northland, Coromandel, Bay of Plenty, and Tairāwhiti.
Restoration efforts continue with road access a limiting factor on the Coromandel Peninsula.
Flooding in Papamoa where a landslide left one person seriously injured and two people are unaccounted for. Photo: RNZ/Alan Gibson
State Highway 2 remains closed near Paeroa in the Hauraki District and SH25 is shut in multiple places cutting off Whitianga.
MetService said the tropical low had moved away to the east but some weather warnings and watches still remain in place for the South Island, but rain would ease on Thursday.
Bay of Plenty
A large slip has come down on campervans and a shower block at the campground at Mount Maunganui in Tauranga just after 9.30am on Thursday.
Police said several people were unaccounted for and the campsite at Adams Avenue had been evacuated.
Adams Avenue is closed while emergency services work to locate anyone in the area, police said.
Bay of Plenty MP Tom Rutherford posted on social media that caravans, the toilet block, cars and tents had been affected.
At 10am on Thursday a rescue helicopter and police were at the slip.
Mount Maunganui is fully closed to the public until further notice due to large slips that have made the area unsafe.
Police district commander superintendent Tim Anderson. Photo: RNZ
The number of people missing is in "single-figures', police district commander superintendent Tim Anderson said.
He said there had been acts of bravery by police staff overnight and on Thursday morning, and thanked officers.
Anderson said he could not provide numbers of those missing after the Mount Maunganui landslide.
Fire and Emergency said it hadn't heard any signs of life from under the slip at the Mount Maunganui Beachside Holiday Park since Thursday morning.
Bay of Plenty group manager William Pike said no one had been rescued from the slip at this stage.
He said members of the public tried to get into the rubble and heard some voices. He said initial fire crews arrived and could hear the same.
Shortly after, FENZ withdrew everyone from the site due to safety concerns.
"Initially, when the first arriving crews arrived, there were some signs of life, but from there we, we actually withdrew our people just to make sure the slip didn't move any further."
He said the slip was still moving when crews arrived, so they withdrew to reassess their next plan.
In addition to the closure of Mauao, NZTA has also closed the State Highway 2 Eastern Link due to surface flooding, while SH5 Napier-Taupō Road has reopened after a serious crash and SH2 Katikati to Waihī ischeduled to reopen by 10pm tonight.
SH2 Kaikokopu bridge at Maniatutu and SH2 Tauranga Eastern Link have reopened with a single lane in both directions and a temporary reduced speed limit in place.
SH2 Matatā straights, SH2 Waimana Gorge. and SH30 Awakeri has now reopened while SH2 Katikati to Tauranga has opened to light traffic only.
A landslide at Welcome Bay in Papamoa has left one person with serious injuries, while two people are still unaccounted for.
Emergency Minister Mark Mitchell said a rescue and recovery operation for the missing pair was ongoing.
At 3.50am on Thursday, Defence Force personnel were brought in to rescue several people who were stuck in a car that was trapped in fast flowing water on Waitao Road in Western Bay of Plenty.
Auckland District
Police are continuing to search for a man who went missing after being swept away in flood waters at Mahurangi River, near Warkworth in Auckland.
A police-led operation ran through most of Wednesday after an emergency call was made when he went missing from Falls Road at around 7.41am.
Police said the man in his 40s from the wider Mahurangi community.
Police Search and Rescue are expected to redeploy to the area once water levels have subsided and it is safe to continue searching.
Police inspect a section of Falls Road near the Mahurangi River where a person and their vehicle is believed to have been swept into the river Photo: Lucy Xia
The wife of the man who has gone missing said her husband can swim and is hopeful he will survive.
The 47-year-old man is a fisher man in Kiribati and moved to New Zealand with his family two years ago.
His wife, who doesn't want to be named, said her husband and her nephew were driving to work in Warkworth when they were swept away by water on Falls Road.
She said her nephew escaped when her husband pushed him so he could grab a tree branch nearby.
The woman said she and family members would also be searching for her husband on Thursday.
Early on Thursday morning, Auckland Emergency Management said it had received 94 calls since midday Wednesday from people experiencing stormwater and flooding issues, but said the rainfall had not been as severe as in Northland and Coromandel.
Coromandel
On Thursday morning, around 2000 people were without power in Coromandel, but access for crews to assess and repair was limited.
Coromandel Peninsula Civil Defence Emergency Controller Brian Carter said SH25 from Whitianga to Coroglen was open.
However, he urged people not to travel unless they absolutely had to.
Whitianga Campground is flooded with the water halfway up the doors of vehicles. Photo: Charlotte Cook
Carter said there had been significant damage from slips on both the state highway and council networks.
SH25 Hikuai to Tairua has now reopened as floodwaters recede.
Carter said there were no known injuries yet, and he hoped it would stay that way.
Northland
Two dozen homes in Ōakura, in Northland, were evacuated on Wednesday because of the threats from landslides, while the Bay's residents say they could be cut off for days.
Ngātiwai Trust Board chief executive Simon Mitchell told Morning Report some of the landslides got worse overnight, and at least a dozen properties had been flooded.
Another 200mm of rain on Wednesday triggered a massive slip at Helena Bay Hill on the road south to Whangārei.
There were other, smaller slips between Helena Bay and Ōakura.
A drone image captures the massive slip at Helena Bay Hill in Northland, cutting off Ōakura Bay. Photo: Supplied / Ngātiwai Trust Board
A number of people were housed at local marae, he said.
NZTA says all Northland highways had reopened on Thursday morning after last night's heavy rain with the exception of State Highway 10 at Kāeo.
The alternative route is State Highway 1 via Kaitāia.
East Coast
Tairāwhiti Civil Defence said evacuations had been underway up the coast.
Hicks Bay was flooded and the nearby bay of Onepoto was cut off, it said. A slip on the hill above Hicks Bay is pushing water through the motel, with clients moved into the restaurant for safety.
There have been pre-emptive evacuations from some streets in Tokomaru Bay, with two rescued from a Harris Street and taken to the House of Breakthrough Welfare Centre.
There are also power outages on East Cape Road.
SH35 from Gisborne to Tikitiki has now reopened.
The Gisborne District Council says flooding and slips have severely impacted Onepoto, Wharekahika and Te Araroa. Photo: SUPPLIED
Meanwhile, seven people were rescued by helicopter from roofs due to flooding in Te Araroa on the East Cape.
Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell said in the recovery phase, they would identify if there needs to be government support.
"It's been a very big event for us as a country, really hitting almost our entire eastern seaboard of the North Island. The good news is that everyone responded really quickly, and there was time to get prepared. That helps to mitigate and create a very strong response," Mitchell said.
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