The heavy rain that kept much of the lower North Island soggy this weekend has passed for now.
Rain clearing at last tonight. Some drizzle tomorrow. See forecasts at https://t.co/Yjbq0jxdqz
— MetService (@MetService) September 18, 2016
^DH pic.twitter.com/STrbmYrRg1
Up to 300mm of rain fell on Mount Taranaki and 125mm in Upper Hutt, in more than 36 hours of persistent rain.
It caused flooding and slips around the Wellington region and in Taranaki.
MetService meteorologist Nicholas Zachar said Northland would get some decent rainfall from Tuesday evening.
And the wet weather would also return to the rest of the North Island, but it would not be as bad.
"The low pressure system that caused this rainfall over the last three days is still sticking around, if moving slowly to the south-east. As it does move east, it is going to approach a high pressure system which unfortunately blocks where it is heading to and pushes it back towards the country."
Mr Zachar said the South Island was mainly clear.
In Taranaki, State Highway 3 from the Awakino Tunnel to Tongaporutu - Taranaki's main road north - was blocked by a slip yesterday and was closed overnight due to unstable rocks.
NZTA said it was likely to stay closed until at least midday today. SH43 between Tahora and Tangarakau - which was also closed by a slip - did open for several hours this morning, before closing again. One lane, under stop/go control, has now been reopened.
#SH3 remains CLOSED near Mokau after large slip. Efforts to open 1 lane are underway: https://t.co/X5ddBkTvnm ^TP pic.twitter.com/da6v9lPY8I
— NZTA Central Nth Is (@NZTACNI) September 18, 2016
