Deluges in Horowhenua have pushed the drains to breaking point, flooding a number of homes.
Several roads across Levin and Ohau had to be closed on Saturday night due to surface flooding, and the district council's emergency controller Toni Magi says there were even some evacuations.
"We've had about a dozen properties affected, and of that about half-a-dozen inundated."
The rain eased later on Saturday night.
Magi says pressure has been building on the system.
"We've had so much rain in the last couple of weeks. This afternoon we had 33mm between 12pm and 2pm, and the water just had nowhere to go."
And residents of a small town north of Taranaki have been left stunned after what's believed to be a tornado tore through the area.
Witnesses say roofs were lifted and one property was destroyed by the twister, which struck Awakino after coming up the town's river.
Deane Riddick says it was like something out of The Wizard of Oz.
"There was so much debris in there, water out of the river. You don't experience that every day of the week - a bit different."
He says roofing iron and Pink Batts have been strewn across the area.
Riddick was sitting in his bach at the time, and says it left a real mess.
"Debris everywhere and pink batts strewn throughout the trees - we were picking roofing going up, quite a bit up the river... It's pretty much bowled the entire shed. The big old shed there, it completely destroyed that. The roof from the first house has ended up in the river."
Fire and Emergency says there were no injuries.
A tornado hit nearby New Plymouth just last week.
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