UPDATED 9.00am: Floodwaters have receded and all roads are open in the Coromandal Peninsula after the region was hit by torrential rain yesterday.

This morning all the region’s roads are now passable according to the NZTA  after flooding cut off main routes to the north yesterday.

Just one section of State Highway 25 at Hikuai  is still causing concern with motorists being warned to take extra care of surface water.

Thames Valley Emergency manager Gary Talbot said teams would be out at first light to survey the damage but it appeared the worst was over.

He said yesterday’s flooding which hit the northern tip of the peninsula hard appeared to coincide with high tide.

Once the tide had turned and the heavy rain over the Pinnacles and ranges stopped the flooding didn’t take long to clear.

“The reports from rural fire brigades is once the tide started receding the flooding also began receding,” he said.

There were no reports of road closures this morning though crews would be inspecting damage from rockfall and cracks.

“We’re really dependent on daylight coming to give us a better idea of how the region has fared,” he said.

He said a number of people were trapped by floodwaters including around five people flooded out of the remote Waikawau Department of Conversation campsite.

“From reports we had four to five people got trapped in some floodwaters and were helped out by the DOC camp manager to a house for the night,” he said.

Colville farmer Tellic Evans was out early this morning assessing the damage to her water-logged farm.

She said a lot of fences had been smashed by the rising floodwaters and they were now working on getting everything back in order.

At one point stock were in water up to their bellies and her home was surrounded by flood water.

"It had stopped raining by 9 pm but at that stage we had had 175 mls of rain and we have lost fences due to the creek taking over the paddock.”

She said other farmers had not fared so well and had lost stock in the deluge.

MetService rain fall was very heavy for the Coromandel with Whitianga recording 124mm in 24 hours.  

Contractors were this morning clearing a slip that had closed the main road linking Coromandel to Whitianga.

The NZTA tweeted a slip had blocked State Highway 25  between Coromandel and Te Rerenga. 

The road was blocked in both directions but it was expected to be cleared early this morning.

MetService said the heavy rain warning for the Coromandel Peninsula and Bay of Plenty had now lifted but some warnings and watches still  remained in place for eastern parts of the North Island.

However, these were now finishing and would be revised this morning.

Duty forecaster Derek Holland said the rain radar showed patches over Bay of Plenty and Gisborne were  clearing with the rain expected to move off the coast later today.