A group of tradies working in Waihī Beach have become trapped by floodwaters after a deluge of heavy rain “came out of nowhere”.

Emergency services were responding to “widespread flooding” in Waihī Beach as “multiple evacuations” have taken place.

Builder James Austin said the rain started bucketing down around 1pm, and the heavy downpours didn’t let up for an hour.

Browns Drive was now completely underwater, Austin said.

One man’s house had been filled with a least 150mm of water and a car that tried to drive through the floodwaters broke down, he said.

Austin said the floodwaters have left him and his workmates trapped as they can’t use the now-flooded roads.

Waihī Beach resident Allan Sole, who is also a Western Bay of Plenty District councillor, said he knew of “a few houses” which had been evacuated.

Sole said there was a “horrendous amount of rain” and “there’s a lot of water lying around”.

”But it has definitely started to drain away.

“Largely, the rain has stopped now and I guess it’s receding in many places.”

Sole said he was on his way to assess the situation at the flooded houses.

A Fire and Emergency New Zealand spokesman said it received a report at 2.03pm of a car stuck in floodwaters.

They then received a few phone calls from the northern end of Waihī Beach alerting them to “widespread flooding” in the area.

The spokesman said “multiple evacuations” had taken place, with the Waihi Beach RSA being an evacuation point.

The spokesman could not comment on the number of people evacuated at this stage.

Police, Fire and Emergency and surf lifesaving crew were helping with the evacuations, he said.

“It seems to be slowing down at this stage in regards to the amount of emergency calls coming through.”

More to come.

Additional reporting - Rachel Maher