Waiwera locals were forced to rescue a bus full of Wainui School children on Friday as the vehicle was trapped by rising floodwaters.

The North Auckland community is facing another threat with reports of a “major slip” blocking a river upstream from Waiwera.

Rodney Local Board member Ivan Wagstaff told the Herald the slip had essentially created a dam, putting everything upstream “at risk”.

“Good neighbours jumped in and helped, but [it was] an extremely stressful time for parents when they see buses on the other side of flooding or they can’t see their children, can’t get hold of them because there’s no phone coverage in these valleys anymore because a lot of the phone networks are down.”

Wagstaff said due to the blockage even a minor amount of rain is seeing homes flooded multiple times, and roads which were previously unaffected be hit.

The school bus after the water subsided. Photo / Supplied

Parts of Auckland, Northland and Coromandel saw more than 100mm of rain falling in less than six hours on Friday night - the third time in a month that the regions have been impacted by severe weather, leaving residents feeling anxious.

About 20 students and their parents have been stranded at a school in Northland overnight as heavy rain caused flooding.

Kaiwaka School principal Sharlene McCormick told the Herald over the weekend they were all safe but it was “horrific and terrifying” for the community to go through the weather event again.

The slip blocking the creek in Waiwera. Photo / Ivan Wagstaff

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Wagstaff said at this stage, from what he’s learnt from the Council, is that an aerial assessment has been done, but a response to the destruction has not occurred yet.

“There needs to be an immediate assessment of the risk profile for this community, we can’t have people sitting in their houses worried about whether the river is going to come up.

“It’s just a really worrying time for everyone.”

After the water subsided. Photo / Supplied

Even last night he told the Herald there had been flooding on roads that had not been flooded before.

Upper Waiwera Rd and Weranui Rd were being impacted, he said.

Auckland Emergency Management, Auckland Council and Wainui School have been approached for comment on the situation.

The bus surrounded by flood water. Photo / File

The community itself, he relayed, had told him the answer was to clear the immediate slip blocking the river.

“As soon as we can get heavy equipment in there to clear the stream, we can somewhat reduce the risk.

“They haven’t been cleared for many years, they’ve silted up, and then in the first flood you know we got the top soil going in and the next flood, it keeps getting higher and higher.”