UPDATED 6.09PM People have been evacuated from several houses in Wellington suburbs and the road in Tawa is blocked by a slip and fallen tree.

Wellington City Council says heavy rain caused surface flooding in many low- lying areas of the city on Saturday.

The council's call centre received more than 400 calls from people reporting flooding and slips and council contractors were busy clearing low-lying roads.

Slips have been reported on roads in Wadestown and in other parts of the city.

Main Road in Tawa is completely blocked by a slip and a fallen tree, which will take hours to remove. Diversions are in place.

The Fire Service said people were evacuated from two houses in Mornington because of a landslide and from two homes in Kaiwharawhara where the problem was a flooded creek.

In the suburb of Northland, one household was advised to evacuate.

The New Zealand Transport Agency is warning motorists to take care on Wellington roads due to the poor driving conditions and pockets of surface flooding.

The MetService says southerly gales through Cook Strait are expected to bring another period of moderate to heavy rain to Wellington on Saturday evening.

Between 5pm and 8pm another 20mm to 30mm of rainfall could accumulate in some places.

Southerly winds may rise to severe gales in Wellington on Saturday afternoon and early evening, MetService says.