Fresh slips are coming down around Whakatāne Wednesday night, with one home perilously close to the edge of a cliff.
The million-dollar-plus Valley Road home in Whakatāne went under the hammer last Friday, but thankfully its new owners hadn't moved in.
About 230 millimetres of rain has fallen around the eastern Bay of Plenty in the past 24 hours, causing a large slip to cascade beneath the property's garage early on Wednesday.
"It's pretty devastating for them," said neighbour Marilyn Sisan.
"And it's not the first time that hill has gone. If you look further to the right you can see there's another slip from a previous storm."
The Valley Road slip in Whakatāne is one of hundreds around the Bay of Plenty, and beyond.
A boil water notice has been issued by the Whakatāne District Council for Ruātoki residents, as the water treatment plant is inaccessible.
Already-sodden paddocks were underwater on Wednesday, forcing stock to higher ground and closing State Highway 2 from Tāneatua to Nukuhou.
"Pretty scary. The stream we had was coming up so we decided to get out of the place," said Tāneatua resident Ard Van der Aa.
Newshub came across farmers Joe Van Ommeren and Chrissy Power clambering over a slip after a marathon journey on their quad bike to find answers.
Their road from Tāneatua to Wainui is completely cut off.
"Pretty bad. The road's gone in a couple of places so it's taken us about four hours to get through on the quad - to go seven kilometres - yeah," Van Ommeren told Newshub.
One remote home in the area is reported to have fallen down a hillside, with a person inside receiving minor injuries.
At Ruātoki the Whakatāne River has overflowed, isolating multiple homes.
And while the rain is expected to ease late on Wednesday, MetService said it could return on Thursday.
The Whakatāne District Council said the complex nature of the much talked about 'atmospheric river' event makes it difficult to forecast.
"There's a lot of uncertainty there but we are keeping our fingers crossed that we are through the worst of it. But we have more rain in the next week to 10 days and so we will be monitoring the situation and just keeping abreast of things and responding if required," said local Civil Defence controller Nicholas Woodley.
Northland, Taranaki, Nelson and Marlborough are next on the radar.
A tropically charged storm, with a mind of its own.
