A State of Emergency has lifted for the Gisborne District on Friday afternoon, with authorities hopeful the worst of the storm has passed.
More than a month's-worth of rain fell in 24 hours forcing residents from their homes and slips to close roads.
Repair work is in full swing as locals prepare for a massive clean up ahead. Contractors have been hurriedly securing power lines above mounds of trees as piles of debris rest on the road.
A retaining wall was almost completely washed away by a slip while homeowners survey paths through their backyards, which have been left cracked and unstable.
"We have a number of properties where there are slips either above or below so we have our engineers out assessing those now to make sure those homes are safe for those people to be in," Civil Defence Group Controller David Wilson tells Newshub.
For many in Sponge Bay and the surrounding suburbs, it wasn't safe to stay at home on Thursday night.
The devastating rain saw streets flooded, as surf life saving rescue boats were brought in to help with evacuations.
MetService is reporting that 174mm of rain fell over a 36-hour period.
"I think they monitored yesterday as the second wettest day in November since they started monitoring," Emergency Management Minister Kiritapu Allan says.
The flooding on local streets has cleared and most evacuated residents are back in their homes but sandbags are still protecting some properties.
Even with the worst of the rain gone, rivers still remain full and the risk of more rain over the next 24 hours is keeping authorities on edge.
"We do look like we're going to have persistent rain for the rest of today, but hopefully it is going to ease this afternoon and then drop off by sort of Saturday morning," Wilson says.
"We'll be keeping a close eye on what that means... It's very wet already, so the concern is any further rain on top of what we've already had."
Gisborne will be hoping to avoid any more slips and any more damage to already soaking suburbs.
Watch the full story above.
