Whanganui has experienced its biggest recorded flood, with at least 200 people forced from their homes by rising waters.
A civil defence emergency was called before the flood waters rose overnight on Saturday and the Whanganui River breach the stop banks along Anzac Parade.
The Whanganui District Council said on Sunday morning, via its Facebook page, the river appeared to have stabilised and no further flooding was expected.
"The Whanganui district is experiencing the largest flood ever recorded in our district."
It says it may take all of Sunday for the roads to clear.
Some people won't be able to return to their homes until Tuesday because sewage has contaminated the properties and they will need to be limed. The council ordered the evacuation of about 100 properties and many others self-evacuated. An emergency centre was set up at Whanganui Girls College.
"Evacuated areas will continue to be cordoned off and the cordons will be manned," the council warned.
Power cuts meant local FM stations could not broadcast.
Further north, 60 houses in Waitotara were to be evacuated on Saturday night.
State Highway 3 was closed by flooding at a number of places between Whanganui and Bulls and at Uruti in north Taranaki on Sunday morning.
Contractors had been able to fix a washed out bridge at Manakau on SH1, between Levin and Otaki, but the road was closed by flooding between Bulls and Hunterville.
Whanganui Mayor Annette Main told AAP the river was at 15.5 metres at Pipiriki, about 79km from Whanganui, about 4.30pm on Saturday. She said this meant there was about 14.5m of extra water in the river.
"That's big," she said.
Whanganui was just one area of focus as surface flooding, slips, rising rivers, sewage overflows and power outages caused problems across the lower North Island on Saturday.
The storm that dumped rain and snow on the South Island on Thursday night and Friday is now causing problems a number of districts.
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