Saturday provided the most severe and wettest weather across the country as a whole for 2013 as exclusively predicted by WeatherWatch at the end of last week.

Last night further heavy rain hit parts of the upper North island and overnight eastern areas of the North island and the upper South Island saw persistent and heavy falls.

Dozens of holidaymakers had been evacuated last night from Waihi in the Bay of Plenty using ropes as rising floodwaters threaten to engulf seaside towns.

Nearly 70 people were rescued from the Waihi Beach Top 10 Holiday Resort, including a 12-year-old girl suffering from shock.

Firefighters carried out owner Ian Smith using a rope line because the water had reached 50 to 70cm deep and was flowing fast.

“Some of them were quite upset – there was one girl of about 12 who was showing signs of shock,” said Smith.

A bridge in the small Bay of Plenty town was washed out and a car was caught in slips along nearby Trig Rd.

Two young women were rescued from the roof of their car after they became stuck in floodwaters on Waihi Beach Rd. Another woman in another car was also rescued.

Responding to reports of a slip on Waihi Beach Rd, the fire service found another car caught in the slip with the motor running and the back window kicked out.

Police later found the occupants safe.

Bay of Plenty residents were braced for a night of flooding as torrential rain continued last night.

Sandbags were distributed to owners of waterlogged homes in Mt Maunganui after floodwaters reached 1m deep.

Fire chiefs set up a welfare centre in Tauranga for flood evacuees.

Tauranga City Council spokesman Frank Begley said hardest-hit areas were Mt Maunganui, Papamoa and Otumoetai.

WeatherWatch believes Sunday is also looking wet with further heavy falls likely across parts of the nation but an easing in eastern districts is on the cards however other areas could see more belts of rain move in.

Parts of the Bay of Plenty saw over 150mm across the day and evening with flooding resulting but perhaps not a surprise with such intensity about.

Surface flooding on roads was also noticeable at one point over both Auckland and Christchurch with the northern city seeing torrential showers yesterday afternoon/night and the Garden city seeing a band of widespread rain.

The last set up like this was about six months ago and some areas are struggling to cope with the deluge as it’s hitting hard ground and running off.

WeatherWatch & NZHerald