Another bout of rain was heading for Northland, Coromandel Peninsula and the Bay of Plenty yesterday (CI time) after a temporary respite overnight.

Over a 24 hour period storms swept across much of the upper North Island (CI time), with lightning strikes in Northland and flooding and slips from Clevedon to the Coromandel Peninsula.

Michael Robertson reluctantly found a new home - the local motel - because his house is teetering precariously above a big slip in Whangamata.

The council has deemed the house unliveable until remedial work is done, and Robertson wondered if it would even last the night.

Whangamata resident Denis Beaver also got a rude awakening.

"Two bedrooms, bathroom, kitchen - we've got two houses on the property and one was completely flooded."

But like many other residents, he said he could not even start to clear up the mess.

"It's slowly drying out, it's drained away now, but there's not much we can do until the next bit of rain, that's what they're telling us."

With more rain expected in the region, people were being advised to stock up on food and water.

Hauraki District mayor John Tregidga said people should have enough supplies to last for seven days in case they were cut off by floodwaters.

Emergency crews were busy clearing roads, slips and waterways right across the Coromandel after the downpours and flooding. All roads were now open except the highway from Waihi to Whangamata, was closed due to large slips and a downed power line.

The NZ Transport Agency said one lane into Whiritoa was now open for emergency access.

“Had it been the middle of the night, it would have been a different story.”

The clean-up is also beginning in flood-hit areas south-east of Auckland.

Yesterday, the Stitches Upholstery workshop near Clevedon was surrounded by knee-deep water.

Most of it has drained away and owner Nick Cunnold said they were lucky they did not suffer any serious damage.

When Auckland Polo Club manager Hannah Marshall arrived at work on Wednesday morning (CI time), she found the grounds and clubrooms inundated with water.

"We couldn't get here, so we had to go up on to our top field and everything you could see was water.

“At its deepest I suppose it was chest height, all the way to the road, across the road. It's taken out the fencing, it's taken out the actual road, so they're going to have to re-lay the road, there's big holes as if it's fallen away, like sinkholes."

Marshall said while a lot of the water had drained away, they had been left with a lot of mud. Clevedon Oysters general manager Keith Chandler said they had about 30cm of water through their factory.

"We spent all day yesterday getting most of the silt out of the factory.”

- Stuff/RNZ