State Highway 2 north of Gisborne will remain closed until at least Friday, June 30, as further movement at Mātāwai and Ormond has made it unsafe for road users and unsuitable for heavy vehicles.

Damian McPherson lives on a farm in Te Karaka and says there has been a lot of slumps and slips in the hill country.

He says the farms at Hangaroa and Tiniroto have slips like he has never seen before.

"I'm quite lucky compared to a lot of those guys up there. I feel so sorry for them.

"It's a real kick in the guts when that sort of thing happens. Just when you think you got your head above the water and boom, it comes again.

Damian says there has been challenge after challenge since Cyclone Gabrielle hit the area in February.

"This time the weather is a lot colder and you don't get the sunlight for as long. I think we're going to be wet for a lot longer this time after these floods.

"We're going to have a lot more damage and slips on the hills if this carries on because everything is just getting so heavy and wet.

"Every drop of rain we get there's more weight on those hills and it's just pulling it down into the gullies."

Waka Kotahi regional maintenance and operations manager Jaclyn Hankin says the freight industry relies heavily on SH2 to connect Tai Rāwhiti to the upper North Island.

"We are working as quickly and safely as possible to get the road to a point where another escorted convoy is possible."

Mainfreight country manager Carl George says there will be hours added to the journey in and out of Gisborne, with trucks from the north having to go via the Napier-Taupō Road, which has also been damaged.

The company will prioritise getting essential supplies in and out, including food, he says.

That includes several trucks a day to restock supermarkets and to take produce out of the region to market.

The roading problems feel "never ending" and the company will make sure its Gisborne team is ok, he says

"We'll just keep doing what we do. We're pretty good at making sure we keep our network open," says Carl.

"We're dictated to by weather and roading but our guys will get around that."

Road woes continue on Coromandel Peninsula

Meanwhile on the Coromandel Peninsula, Waka Kotahi is working to clear slips that blocked State Highway 25 in a weekend of havoc on the area's roads.

Five motorists were trapped at Ruamahunga and Waiomu on Saturday night.

The road has reopened under stop-go traffic management.

State Highway 25A remained closed with the road collapsed after the North Island's major storm in late January 2023.

Thames-Coromandel District Mayor Len Salt says the slips are making it difficult for people to get to the shops, to work and to medical appointments.

Len plans to meet with MP Carmel Sepuloni about cyclone recovery.

He says there is no doubt stabilisation work is needed and adds that 50 points along SH25 have been identified as in urgent need of repair.

He says 115 sites on the local networks have also been labelled as needing work.

Motorists are advised to delay journeys in the area if the weather is bad as the road conditions remain poor.

-Emma Stanford/RNZ.