Updated: 9.30am: A further 30 to 40mm of rain is expected to fall in the Western Bay of Plenty this morning, before easing by midday – according to the latest weather watch issued by Metservice.

The MetService says there's been 66.4 mm of rainfall in the Western bay of Plenty so far today.

The MetService says 66.4mm of rain has already fallen today. Photo: Tracy Hardy

In the two hours to 4am there was 14.4mm of rain, in two hours to 6am 30.2mm and 19.2mm to 8am.

'The maximum was 18mm in the hour to 6am and the following hour was 17.8 so essentially two hours of that sort of rainfall is very heavy,” says Metservice forecaster Peter Little.

'In the previous hours there was 12.2mm and 13mm. It's certainly easing off now.

'The flow's northeast so it's going to stay reasonably cloudy and a few showers still drifting in.”