flooding

Aotearoa Tongan Response Group Chair, Anahila Kanongata'a-Suisuiki MP, told PMN News the 150 workers are well but she couldn't say how they ended up stranded and why they were left behind in the flood waters.

"They have been relocated. They are no longer in the orchard. NEMA is due to provide official information as to where they are."

She says their respective home countries have been notified that the rescue was successful.

She says she tried reaching out to the workers over the phone, to no avail.

Auckland Tongan community leader Pakilau Manase Lua said families in Tonga watched on as their relatives filmed while perched on roofs surrounded by tree tops.

He said the scenes were harrowing to watch for the families.

Lua said the Aotearoa Tonga Response Group has been activated to support Pasifika community members.

RNZ Pacific reports Hawke's Bay is one of six regions to have declared a local state of emergency. Just before 9am today the government declared a national state of emergency.

Further downpours overnight led to five more rescues of people trapped by floodwaters and landslips, and a significant landslip in Titirangi.

Chris Hipkins said Auckland has a big clean-up ahead from the torrential rain that began on Friday causing unprecedented flooding around the city.

"And then of course we've got the uncertainty of what the weather's going to do over the next few days still ahead of us ... so it's still a very challenging time for Auckland."

The Cuban weather service said the downpours would last until Saturday afternoon, bringing more than 20cm (8in) of rain to some places.

Western and central areas of the country, including Havana, are the worst affected.

Hurricane Agatha hit Mexico last Monday, killing nine people.

Nearly 2,000 people have evacuated their homes in Havana, and around 50,000 people in and around the city are without electricity.

Evacuation centres have been prepared to shelter people from the rain, the state-affiliated Cuban News Agency reported.

Rising water levels in the town of Lismore forced the closure of the team's base camp at Lake Ainsworth, with on-site residents including the Drua squad and staff having to evacuate.

The squad moved out of camp on Wednesday and has relocated to the Gold Coast where they will play the New South Wales Waratahs tonight, before taking on the Brumbies in Brisbane next weekend.

CEO Brian Thorburn said they had no choice but to move the entire squad to another state.

Conditions were rapidly deteriorating by mid-afternoon on Wednesday as the effects of an east-coast low, which caused deadly floods in Queensland and northern NSW, hit the state's capital.

The Bureau of Meteorology's Dean Narramore said catchments already drenched by weeks of consistent rain were being bombarded with 50 to 100mm of fresh downpours, and it was expected to continue into the morning.

"A dangerous situation is evolving," he warned.

Torrential rain sparked widespread destruction, with flood water from overflowing dams submerging thousands of homes on the islands.

The affected area stretched from Flores island in eastern Indonesia to the neighbouring nation of Timor Leste.

Rescuers are still attempting to find survivors, and officials warned the death toll could rise further.

"Four sub-districts and seven villages have been impacted," Indonesian Disaster Mitigation Agency spokesperson Raditya Jati told reporters.

Dozens of people have been rescued from floodwaters, and residents in many low-lying communities of New South Wales have been ordered to leave their homes.

Police say hundreds of people have flocked to evacuation centres in areas north of the city of Sydney.

Major roads have been shut. Footage has emerged of a house being swept away.

Warragamba dam in Sydney, the city's main water source, has begun to overflow for the first time since 2016, and WaterNSW warns others are also expected to spill over.

The storm's sluggish speed, roughly 5mph (7km/h), increases its capacity for destruction, pummelling coastal states with heavy rain.

The National Hurricane Center (NHC) reported flooding from Tallahassee, Florida to Mobile Bay in Alabama.

It also warned of a "life-threatening" storm surge and river flooding inland as far as Georgia.

Hurricane Sally is one of several storms in the Atlantic Ocean, with officials running out of letters to name the hurricanes as they near the end of their annual alphabetic list.

The slide occurred on Thursday at on the remote coast.

Office director Loti Yates said it came as a severe low hit the region, causing heavy downpours and extensive flooding.

Bridges, roads and villages had been washed away.

"There are communities that have lost homes and properties and the NDMO has been working with the Red Cross and other NGOs to access non-food items, such as shelter kits, garden, kitchen and hygiene kits to be delivered."