Just days after ex-tropical cyclone Hale left a trail of destruction on the East Coast, another 28-hour-long sub-tropical deluge is set to hit the region while it remains in a state of emergency.

MetService says a sub-tropical low is forecast to approach the North Island on Wednesday and to lie just north of East Cape on Thursday.

This morning a heavy rain watch was issued for the entire East Coast from Wednesday morning and will last 28 hours.

The forecaster said parts of Tairāwhiti would potentially get around 80-100mm of rain in a 24-hour period and saturated areas would see impacts faster.

“Rainfall amounts may approach warning criteria, especially north of Tolaga Bay,” said MetService.

MetService said along with the rain there would be strong winds in northeastern parts of the North Island.

Gisborne Mayor Rehette Stoltz said officials were keeping a close eye on the MetService advice.

“If we need to close roads or evacuate communities, we will communicate that early with our residents.

“We are keeping our community informed and our team is actively inspecting our roading network and infrastructure to gauge the damage.

“Our community is still in Civil Defence response mode, and we encourage them to listen to any Civil Defence advice via our Facebook page or the media in order for them to stay safe if we have to deal with more heavy rain later in the week.”

Two days ago, badly damaged State Highway 35 was opened to motorists from 7am to 7pm each day, with speed restrictions in place.

However, many towns remain cut off, with 19 roads still closed and a further 29 only open to four-wheel drive vehicles.

Civil Defence officials had urged people to not go swimming, boating or fishing until further notice.

MetService forecaster Mark Todd told Newstalk ZB a moist easterly flow was heading over the country today.

“Northland, down through northern Auckland, Coromandel Peninsula and also Gisborne, we’re expecting it to be somewhat cloudier and possibly a few more showers as well.”

Todd said a sub-tropical low would start approaching the north of the North Island around Wednesday.

“We should expect to see winds freshen up in those areas, and also some rain setting into northern and eastern areas of the North Island.

“Unfortunately it does at this stage look as if there is a risk of some heavy falls for Gisborne and possibly even northern Hawke’s Bay which is really not what we want to be seeing after recent events there.”