Weather that caused severe flooding in parts of the Gisborne district on Tuesday, eased overnight.
Dozens of residents spent last night away from home because of rising flood waters.
Metservice says 55mm of rain fell in the Gisborne district in the last 24 hours, but that has eased to 2mm per hour since 2am.
Gisborne district Civil Defence controller Jon Davies told Morning Report that's lighter than what was expected.
MetService says there will still be moderate to heavy rainfall in the hills from Gisborne to Tokomaru Bay until Thursday.
Road damage
Road access to parts of the East Coast is restricted, due to damage on parts of State Highway 35 between Gisborne - Ruatoria.
The Transport Agency says the road between Tolaga Bay and Tokomaru Bay is closed and won't reopen until at least the afternoon.
Acting regional manager Mark Owens says there's a major issue with slumping at Busby Hill just south of Tokomaru Bay.
The highway is also down to one lane north of Tokomaru Bay.
