Flood waters in Papamoa forced a couple to abandon their car.

Marie Mckay and her husband Brent went to the 4Square at 6.40pm with no troubles, but encountered knee deep flooding upon their return.

'On the way back it was a ‘no go'. We've had to abandon our car in Stephenson Drive off the boulevard. Can't turn the lights off or lock it.

'We will leave it until the morning and get a tow truck,” Marie told SunLive overnight.

Flooding in Papamoa. Photos: Cameron Avery.

Heavy rain pummelled Tauranga and the wider Western Bay overnight, causing flooding and slips.

State Highway 2, north and south of Katikati, was flooding with part of the road being closed by NZTA for a time. The road is open this morning.

Overnight, police received reports of flooding in Papamoa Beach, Te Puke, Mount Maunganui, Otumoetai and Katikati.

One weather station west of Tauranga recorded 53mm of rain in the hour from 4-5pm on Sunday.

The station also had one of the highest 24 hour totals at 140mm, while Tauranga had more than 100mm in 24 hours.

Around mid-afternoon on Sunday, police called for drivers to stay off the roads on the Coromandel Peninsula, as the heavy rain caused surface flooding and slips.

The MetService is forecasting periods of rain today, with northeasterlies easing in the evening.

MetService meteorologist Cameron Coutts says another band of heavy rain was moving south through Northland early Monday.

The rain was linked to an active low to the west of Northland.

The first band of rain from it, that had brought the flooding of the past few days, is around Gisborne early Monday. The rain falling in Northland early Monday is the next band.

"There's still potential to be some localised heavy falls amongst that, it doesn't take much to get heavy rain.

"But nothing like some of the figures we had yesterday, which were torrential."

-Additional reporting by Stuff.co.nz

Flooding at Waihi Beach. Photo by Adam Harper.

Flooding on Sh2, south of Katikati. Photo: Cameron Avery.