Many roads in flood-affected eastern Bay of Plenty are expected to reopen today and farmers are checking for damage.
Heavy rain in the Bay of Plenty and Coromandel at the weekend disrupted New Year's celebrations in the popular holiday regions. Thames Hospital resorted to hosing down mud-covered patients, a campground was cut-off and two people had to flee from a vehicle swept away near Waimana.
Bay of Plenty farmer John Scrimgeour told NZ Newswires that farmers near Waimana and the Whakatane River were flooded but most in the western Bay of Plenty were all right.
"Farmers' biggest concern, when I talked to a couple last night, was how much silting damage there might be. In some floods they get a lot of debris deposited on the paddocks but the general impression was that that was not as bad this time," Mr Scrimgeour, who the a provincial president of Federated Farmers, said.
Milk tankers could not get through to the Waimana area on Sunday and some milk would was dumped but collection was expected to resume on Monday, he said.
The Pikatahi Bridge on State Highway 2 remains closed and the Waimana township is still cut off by flooding.
Many local roads remain closed but detours are in place.
Access is expected to be restored to all communities by Tuesday.
NZN