A section of State Highway 5 near Rotorua has fully reopened after a slip.

The slip came down near Dansey Rd, northwest of the city, overnight and detours were put in place, Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency said.

Police were called to the scene after a vehicle crashed into the slip around 2.50am.

There were no injuries reported.

Cordon at the intersection of State Highway 5 and Dansey Rd after a slip closed a section of the highway. Photo / Andrew Warner

It comes as the region continues the clean up from days of rain.

SH36 is now open under stop/go traffic management after flooding between Jackson Rd and Central Rd and Hamurana Rd is now fully reopened with some minor slips still to be cleared.

Maniatutu Rd, between Rotoehu Rd and Pugh Rd, remained closed overnight due to a large slip and tree blocking both lanes.

SH2 is also fully open between Awakeri and Taneatua as is SH2 between the Tauranga Eastern Link and Pikowai Beach at the Kaikokopu Stream Bridge.

Rotorua Lakes Council said contractors had completed a full check of the local roading network on Wednesday and would be out today cleaning various slips, debris and potholes.

Fire and Emergency NZ was called to 80 weather-related incidents in the Bay of Plenty between 12am Tuesday and 9am Thursday.

Of these 80 incidents, 23 were in Rotorua, 25 in Tauranga, 26 in the Western Bay of Plenty, five in Whakatāne and one in Ōpōtiki.

A spokeswoman said 13 were reported as rescues and eight were for people stuck in their cars or on their properties by flooding.

The majority of the rest were for flooding in buildings, homes, and roads, and for slips and fallen trees.

Rainfall amounts and forecast

MetService expert meteorologist, Peter Little, said 115.2mm of rain had fallen in Rotorua in the 48 hours up to 9am today.

Tauranga had 74.9mm in the same period, Whakatāne 64.6 mm and Taupō 81.8 mm.

Showers were forecast today, with thunderstorms and hail possible west of Whakatāne, Little said.

The showers are expected to clear late this afternoon or evening as westerly winds turn southerly. South to southwest winds stick around for the weekend, bringing fine weather.

Wastewater system struggles

Rotorua’s wastewater system was “unable to cope at several points” during Tuesday’s heavy rain, resulting in overflow into Lake Rotorua.

“Due to the heavy rain and the very high water levels of the lakes and groundwater table, stormwater caused excessively high inflows to the Rotorua wastewater system which was unable to cope at several points last night,” Rotorua Lakes Council said.

“Issues included wastewater overflowing into a stormwater drain leading to Sulphur Bay for several hours in the early evening and fully treated effluent overflowed from the holding ponds at the Rotorua WWTP [wastewater treatment plant] to the Puarenga Stream for a period in the late evening.”

Slip at Lake Rotoiti between Moose Lodge and Ruato Bay 10 March 2023 The Daily Post Photo / Andrew Warner

“Council and its contractors worked throughout the night to minimise the impact of this and reported to BOPRC, mana whenua and other stakeholders about what was happening.”

Other network overflows occurred at Depot St, Lake Rd and Victoria St, and a wastewater pump station at Tikitere became blocked with rags, combined with high flows, caused an overflow to land.

The blockage has since been fixed.

Rivers hit second warning levels

Bay of Plenty Regional Council duty flood manager Peter Blackwood said the Whakatāne River had passed the second warning level and was expected to peak Wednesday afternoon.

The river was spilling on to land, but still well within the stopbank area.

Several local roads were flooded in the area (Awahou Rd, Reid Rd, Taneatua Rd and Rewatu Rd) and they had been temporarily closed but full access would be available on Friday morning.

People were urged to keep an eye on the Whakatāne District Council’s Facebook page for updates.

The Kaituna River also reached its second warning level and both the Waioeka and Otara Rivers were now receding, Blackwood said.

High water level at Lake Rotoma. Photo / Andrew Warner

“Significant stormwater flooding also occurred in Tauranga and through the Western Bay of Plenty and at its peak, Katikati, Tauranga and the Rangitāiki catchment all experienced up to 50mm of rainfall in a one-hour period.”

“Our staff on the ground are busy fielding calls from landowners and manning flood pumps.”

He said while the weather system had passed, river and drainage water levels were still high and some may keep rising. Monitoring would continue.

He said several Eastern Bay rivers reached the first warning level overnight on already very saturated land.

Matahina Dam continued to spill to lower levels in Lake Matahina and relieve pressure off the lower part of the Rangitāiki River.

There was a lot of rain in the upper catchment, he said, making the lake high which is why the controlled spilling continued.

While the heavy weather warning had lifted, there was more rain forecast for the next 24 hours and he said the regional council would continue to monitor the situation from its Flood Room.