A washout at a single lane bridge has cut off several settlements in southern Wairarapa, including Lake Ferry and Cape Palliser.
Torrential rain which began on Sunday night has caused widespread flooding in rural and coastal areas. Already isolated communities are now completely cut off after the Lake Ferry Rd bridge over the Turangaui River fell away overnight.
The bridge is the only access by road to communities in Lake Ferry, and along the Cape Palliser coast, such as Whāngaimoana and Ngawi.
South Wairarapa District Council said the the bridge was located between Warrens Rd and the junction with Cape Palliser Rd.
"The bridge is only one lane and is the main access route to Lake Ferry and Cape Palliser. This means those communities cannot currently be reached by road.
"Road crews and contractors are on site working urgently to repair the damage and reopen the road. The road is expected to reopen later this afternoon."
Pirinoa Station farmer Guy Didsbury told RNZ's Morning Report programme today the bridge had been "gouged out" and following a wellfare check on a neighbour Whāngaimoana Beach resident Terry Shubkin went to see the damage for herself.
She said a four-wheel-drive was necessary before even reaching the bridge.
"But even if you could pass that, you get to the bridge and the bridge itself is washed out. There's about a three-metre gap."
Despite the washout, Shubkin wasn't too concerned about being trapped.
"We are lucky compared to other people - we are well set-up here.
"We have lost our water pump, but we do have a 10,000 litre tank here, I just have to figure out how to get the freshwater out of it."
Shubkin said other residents had floodwaters right through their properties - "They're not so lucky".
The storm was "pretty rough and scary" when it hit on Sunday night, she said with rising floodwaters stopping just 5cm shy of the house.
"We do flood, but this is the worst I've seen in 23 years."
Shubkin said power had since returned and she was impressed with Civil Defence yesterday who were undertaking door-knocks when the weather was still severe.
"When the storm was ... still quite bad they actually came down the street a couple of times to check on people."
Wairarapa Emergency Operations Centre Controller Simon Taylor said the main priority today was to establish communication with rural and coastal communities and understand their needs.
A reconnaissance helicopter flight yesterday was turned around due to bad weather. It flew from Masterton to Lake Ferry and Cape Palliser, but conditions prevented its flight over Tora, Flat Point, Riversdale, Castlepoint and Mataikona.
Taylor said food had been delivered to some rural communities in South Wairarapa by emergency services in four-wheel-drive vehicles.
He understood people were "tired and frustrated", particularly where power and water supplies had been disrupted, and asked people to stay safe and check on neighbours.
"One of the key things in the Wairarapa, we are a community that looks after ourselves and our neighbours."
This morning Powerco said 1148 homes were still without power across Wairarapa, down from 3300 yesterday evening.
A boil water notice remained in place for Pirinoa following the inundation of the water treatment plant.
