• ​​​​Northland’s Kāeo River Bridge on SH10 and Rangiahua Bridge on SH1 are both closed due to flooding.
• Nine local roads are closed due to slips and flooding, while three are partially blocked, according to Far North District Council.
• Three people have been injured in a crash after a tree fell on SH1.
• More than 800 homes and businesses in the Far North are without power due to the poor weather.
• MetService warns of surface flooding and slips after issuing a heavy rain warning for all of Northland.

Northland residents should watch out for flooding and slips, after more than 100mm of rainfall overnight, according to MetService.

Two bridges – one on SH1 at Rangiahua and the other at SH10 at Kāeo River – have been closed due to flooding.

The flooding has cut off New Zealand’s northernmost town, Kaitāia, from the rest of the country and caused flooding on one of its streets.

Waka Kotahi has advised no detour is available for either route and people should delay their journey.

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Andrea Panther from Kaitāia Business Association said this has caused huge disruption for businesses in the area.

Specialist doctors can’t get to Kaitāia, resulting in cancelled appointments, some staff can’t get to work and shipments can’t get through, she said.

“It’s caused lots of disruption … It’s not the first time but sometimes it’s just a few hours at high tide – now it looks like it could be a few days.”

Panther said while businesses will worry about the isolation, most people realise there is nothing they can do.

She hoped the weather would not be like the storm in July 2020, which caused SH1 to be closed at Mangamuka for a year.

One street in Kaitāia, Miro Place, is flooded with water up to “knee-high”, said resident Sophie Ruka.

She was unable to get out of her property on Thursday morning, so was unable to get her children to school or go to the supermarket.

Her neighbours had to move their cars to higher ground, with the water lapping their exhaust pipes, she said.

The water was continuing to rise at about 1pm on Thursday, with the rain continuing to pour down, Ruka said.

The street has flooded twice before in heavy rain in July, but she said this was far worse than those occasions.

Far North residents and businesses on reticulated sewage are being asked to help reduce pressures on the wastewater system by not flushing as often and delaying washing.

Far North District Council said stormwater infiltrating wastewater systems can overwhelm wastewater pump stations and treatment plants, leading to spills and overflows.

The council is urging people to reduce wastewater flows by flushing less often, taking shorter showers and delaying washing.

Flooding and landslides have closed nine local roads, with three others partially blocked.

Kāeo Service Centre and library, Rāwene Service Centre and Kaikohe Library are also all closed.

Viv Bath, owner of Kāeo Chemist, said the flooding meant many patients were unable to come in and get their medicines.

An urgent delivery of morphine had also been delayed and would cause real problems if it was delayed again on Friday, she said.

More than 800 homes and businesses in the Far North are without power due to the poor weather.

Lines company Top Energy is reporting power cuts at nine different places across the Far North, including in Kaitāia, Ōpua, Kāeo and Awarua.

The 120 homes and businesses without power in the Bay of Islands town of Ōpua should expect the lights on at 3pm, while Kaitāia homes and businesses will have to wait until 6pm.

Earlier on Thursday morning, three people were injured in a crash on SH1 near Hikurnagi after a tree fell on the road.

One person reportedly received moderate injuries and two people have reportedly received minor injuries, police said.

A number of Far North schools are closed on Thursday due to the flooding, with one sending children home at 11am.

Opononi Area School – Te Kura Takiwa o Opononi, based in Hokianga, is closing at 11am due to areas already flooding, with buses due to leave the school at this time.

Parents are encouraged to collect their children from the office if possible.

Oromahoe School near Kerikeri, Taipa Area School, Peria School, Whangaroa College and Matauri Bay School are all closed for the day – with school buses not running in Whangaroa.

Mangōnui local Antonia Cathcart, 23, said she’d never seen the water around Kāeo River Bridge rise this quickly.

“I’ve only a small car. I couldn’t see how deep the water was. It was really fast flowing I could feel the push against the car.

“They closed the road just after me, but it’s the fastest that I’ve seen the water rise,” she said.

According to MetService meteorologist Stephen Glassey, most northern districts saw more than 65mm of rainfall over a 24-hour period.

Other places in the Far North were also hit hard by rainfall, although Whangarei Airport only measured 16mm over the same period, said Glassey.

Kerikeri has been hit the worst, with more than 155mm in the 24 hours to 1pm, followed by Wiroa with 123mm.

Send in your photos of Northland’s wild weather to aucklandnewsroom@stuff.co.nz

Northland is not the only area in the North Island bracing for severe weather. Auckland, Great Barrier Island, the Coromandel Peninsula, the Bay of Plenty, Waikato, Taranaki, Tongariro National Park and the Tararua Range are all set to see heavy rainfall on Thursday and Friday.