An already drenched East Coast is preparing for hours of torrential rain which might see parts of the region become isolated again.

Tairāwhiti has been put under a 12-hour heavy rain watch and an orange heavy rain warning by MetService as a subtropical low heads East.

The region’s civil defence is warning residents to be prepared and make sure they have enough supplies for at least three days.

The latest weather warning covers Gisborne north of Tolaga Bay starting tomorrow at 1pm with expectations of 70-90 mm of rain, peaking at the rates of 10-15 mm per hour.

The forecaster warns the level of rain may see streams and rivers rise rapidly, along with flooding and slips.

The watch covers Gisborne about and south of Tolaga Bay starting at 3pm tomorrow where rainfall amounts might approach warning criteria.

Large slip at Waiorongomai. Photo / Gisborne District Council

Tairāwhiti Civil Defence last night warned residents while a state of emergency remained in place they needed to make sure they had supplies before the rain hit again.

“Be prepared – make sure you have enough supplies for at least 3 days.

“The concern is that our district is already saturated and our roading network vulnerable.”

Tolaga Bay civil defence controller Greg Shelton told Newstalk ZB when he woke up this morning he didn’t even realise that it had been a week since ex-tropical cyclone Hale hit the region.

“That’s how busy and really, congested and emotional things get. But we have done the trick - water, salt and logs, everything that comes with it. It doesn’t heal overnight and doesn’t get fixed overnight so it’s going to be a long drawn-out process with more heavy rain forecast tomorrow and then on and on.

“You know what, we’ll get through.”

When asked about how long it would take to recover from the latest storm, Shelton said he was looking at using a bulldozer at his own property.

“Now we got devastated back in March and that was 10 months ago so my own circumstance, will be a year or two before we get back to full recovery mode on the flat land.. takes a while and like I said that’s you know really the nature of the beast.”

Linda Gough's paddock covered in silt all the way to the stairs of her Tolaga Bay home. Photo / Miss-Kate Rochelle

Shelton said everyone in the community had come up to him with offers of support.

“Like my phone’s gone non-stop. Forestry workers that can’t get back to work in the west have offered manpower and chainsaws. Veteran affairs have come on board.

“We even had a young guy that grew up in Tolaga, lives in Rotorua and told his dad he would come back and help and give back to the community.

“I got a phone call yesterday from a rural woman and nationwide, they want to come on board.”

It was more about addressing the anxiety issues, he said.

“We are trying to reach out to people and stay connected, just say, look if you’re thinking of leaving the area please don’t, we need you in the community, let’s work through this and look at the future-proofing.”

MetService meteorologist William Nepe told Newstalk ZB this morning they were still looking at the sub-tropical low to approach the North Island.

“The low centre looks to remain offshore to the east of Gisborne, giving a relatively brief period of rain. We have issued a heavy rain warning for the region for tomorrow.

“The low would hang around to the East of the North Island on Thursday.”

A fairly weak feature was moving southwest towards Hawke’s Bay, Wairarapa and possibly Wellington, Nepe said.

“I don’t think there will be warning amounts of rain there. Then the low should move off to the southeast; settle a little into Friday and then the weekend.

“It will possibly be a little bit cooler than normal.”

The weather in other parts of New Zealand looked mostly fine apart from a few isolated showers around Northland and Coromandel, Nepe said.

“More or less fine for most places although there are bits and pieces of cloud. I mean at the moment we have currently, either way, you look at it, a weak ridge or weak trough over the country. And there is a weak front currently moving up the lower South Island which is looking to keep temperatures a bit lower than normal for places down there.”

Wanaka would be a little bit cooler today but was still quite hot at 27C, Nepe told Newstalk ZB.

“And 24C in Queenstown but coastal places in the East, like Ashburton and Timaru looked a little bit cooler than normal forecasting 19C maximum where normally they’d be around 22 for January.”

Coming storm

Forecasters are giving a "moderate" risk of another tropical cyclone forming west of Vanuatu after Wednesday. Image / Niwa

While there were presently no tropical cyclones in the Coral sea or South Pacific areas, there was a moderate risk that a tropical cyclone would develop west Vanuatu next Wednesday onwards, MetService tropical cyclone bulletin said.

“On Saturday at 1am, there are a few lows on the trough extending east-southeast from the Coral Sea. Conditions are expected to be favourable over the Coral Sea during this week, hence there is a moderate risk that a tropical cyclone will develop west of Vanuatu from Wednesday onwards.

“The system is expected to move eastwards, across or close to southern Vanuatu on Thursday. Strong winds and heavy rain are expected to affect Vanuatu and northern parts of New Caledonia late Wednesday and during Thursday.”