Repairs to The Mall at Pilot Bay are expected to begin today after severe flooding caused damage to parts of the road.

Tauranga City Council was forced to shut down the road on Thursday after a "significant water mains break" just after 5.30pm.

The road was reopened around 7.30pm.

Tauranga City Council says traffic is able to drive down both lanes of the road today.

It advises people to drive slowly while travelling down the road.

"Repairs to the road surface will start today and are expected to take up to a week."