Residents in the Far North say the heavy rain, wild weather and flooding has been the worst for a long time.

A church is flooded in Kaeo in the Far North today.
Photo: RNZ / Finn Blackwell

Kaeo has been hard hit, with the road leading out of town still closed and parts of the region are effectively cut off.

Roadside slips and plenty of surface water can be seen on the way through to Kaeo.

Kaeo residents said it was some of the worst flooding in years.

One local cafe said a number of their staff couldn’t make it to work.

They were keeping an eye on the Kaeo River, high tide on the east coast was 2.50pm this afternoon.

Local pharmacists Vivienne Bath said it was a worry as some residents came in this morning looking for percriptions that weren’t there.

“The doctors were shut yesterday, so we had to get a few people to run and grab the scripts,” she said.

Bath said emergency supplies need more funding to make sure people had access to important medicine in times of crisis.