A Taranaki resident says water inundated her garages lapping furniture stored there, as thunderstorms battered the region on Thursday.
Taryn Utiger said Ōkato streets flooded yesterday, with everyone "battening down the hatches".
Up to 280mm of rain fell over parts of Taranaki over 24 hours, with thunderstorms causing flash flooding, slips and sewage overflows.
Utiger said she had never seen flooding that bad.
"Shin-deep water covering all of our furniture in the garages, firewood stack was completely wet, not what you need for your fire.
"So yeah, a lot of water just flooding down our driveway into the garages," Utiger said.
Hendrik Hofstee owner Chooks Pumping & Engineer, Egmont Village, is in cleanup mode after business affected by heavy rain. Photo: RNZ / Robin Martin
In Egmont Village, Hendrik Hofstee said ankle-deep water rushed through his workshop in minutes.
"It was just a matter of going through, picking stuff up off the floor, and within probably 10 minutes there was 100 ml going through the whole workshop.
"When you've got a lot of planted equipment and gear and everything else stored on site in a workshop situation, it's not ideal."
Hofstee said at about 3pm the rain came down so heavily stormwater systems just couldn't cope.
He rushed to get electrical equipment off the ground before his business was swamped.
Chooks director Melissa Beford started calling the firm's insurance company yesterday and assessors were planning a visit to check on damage.
Lettica Shelford says the entire SH3 was covered with floodwaters yesterday which gouged a large hole in the road. Photo: RNZ / Robin Martin
Lettica Shelford, who lives at Egmont village, said State Highway 3 had deep flooding outside her property yesterday.
Traffic slowed to a crawl, and she believes a pothole may have damaged some cars.
Each time a car went through it sent a wave of floodwaters towards her property, but luckily her home was not damaged.
While a lot of flooding receded quickly, Taranaki Emergency Management / Civil Defence is warning people to be careful and avoid travel if they can, with more thunderstorms possible.
Eltham ENZCO process worker Phil Allen got a bit of a shock when he stopped to check out the flooded lot at the corner of Bridge and Stanners Streets. Photo: RNZ/Robin Martin
Eltham ENZCO process worker Phil Allen got a bit of a shock when he stopped to check out the flooded lot at the corner of Bridge and Stanners Streets - there was a submerged car in it.
He said the large lake-like pool, dubbed Lake Eltham by locals, was usually a dry lot where commercial buildings used to stand.
"I didn't even realise there was a car in there."
Eltham's Bulmo Bulmer's Mitsubishi Outlander has been submerged on an empty lot at the corner of Bridge and Stanners Streets. Photo: RNZ/Robin Martin
The vehicle belongs to Bulmo Bulmer, who got the shock of his life to discover his Mitsubishi Outlander submerged on the lot owned by his son Cody.
"I've lived her 22 years and it's never been this high, it's only been about a foot deep in the past."
Bulmer said a dog had to be rescued from the water earlier in the day.
The first he heard about the predicament of his vehicle was when he saw a photo on social media.
Eltham's Bullo Bulmer whose Mitsubishi Outlander has been submerged on an empty lot. Photo: RNZ/Robin Martin
He said he was storing the vehicle in the lot as he was planning on fixing it up, but said "it is what it is".
South Taranaki mayor Phil Nixon said local road closures were cutting off some residents.
He said that was the council's first main task for the clean-up.
"Getting these roads open to allow our people access in and out is our absolute priority and of course until we get into some of them we don't know the full extent of the damage to them."
A huge amount of rain fell in the region - with MetService saying 373mm came down at Dawsons Falls near Stratford, in the past two days.
And it was forecasting widespread showers for the region today and tomorrow, which could become heavy and thundery with hail.
With the risk of thunderstorms looming, Taranaki civil defence emergency management controller Todd Velvin was urging people to be careful when travelling around the area.
"As we see these heavy bands move through the region, just to be cautious when they are travelling on the road, surface flooding could appear quite quickly or rapidly with the heavy downpours."
He says teams will be monitoring the rain closely overnight.
Widespread slips and flooding had impacted the roading network around the region, with closures and some roads down to a single lane.
State Highway 43 is closed between Whangamona and Taumaranui, SH3 is closed at Awakino Gorge and down to one lane at Mount Messenger, and SH4 is shut between Whanganui and Raetihi.
"Delay your plans if heading north, or look at alternative routes, and if you are going north there are alternate routes down through Bulls or Marton to use State Highway 1."
There have also been several sewage overflows from New Plymouth's wastewater system which the council said may affect public health.
These have occurred at Pukeariki Landing, Ngamotu pump station, Huatoki pump station, Glen Avon pump station, Mangati pump station, Waitara pump station, under Northgate bridge and the Inglewood oxidation pond.
The council is warning people against swimming or collecting food at sites near the stations, and says signs have been put up telling people this.
Meanwhile, a heavy rain watch is in place in Wairoa in Hawke's Bay tomorrow afternoon through to the early hours, with a moderate chance of being upgraded to a warning.
There's also a moderate risk of thunderstorms tomorrow in the Eastern Bay of Plenty and much of Gisborne.
MetService has forecast widespread showers for the region this afternoon, which could become heavy and thundery with hail.
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