UPDATE 4.45PM: Heavy downpours have caused surface flooding and slips resulting in road closures around the region.

Tauranga City Council advises Cheyne Road access to Oropi Road is closed and Roxanne Place in Windermere is closed due to flooding.

Flooding at Cheyne Road has closed a section of the road.

A slip is blocking Te Matai Road.

Oropi/Pyes Pa

Maleme Street is also experiencing severe surface flooding and TCC is monitoring it closely and may close the road.

A slip is covering one lane on Pyes Pa Road outside 1932, north of Taumata Road.

Flooding is affecting Pyes Pa Road near Oropi Road with the road now down to one lane. Access to Cheyne Road via Pyes Pa Road is open.

Ohauiti Road

Ohauiti Road is closed following a slip 1km north of MacPahil Road. Contactors are on the way to the scene.

State Highway 29

State Highway 29 at Poike is flooded and impassable. Traffic in the area is heavily congested, advise police.

Flooding is not expected to recede until after high tide, which is due at 5:40pm. Contractors are working to deploy warning signs and detours.

Te Matai Road

A large slip is blocking Te Matai Road, about 6km from State Highway 2. A resident advises the slip is blocking the entire road and school buses from Te Matai School are unable to travel past.

Tauranga Police Senior Sergeant Glenn Saunders says a slip on Te Matai Road is blocking both lanes.

'It's at number 532 Te Matai Road, so closer to State Highway 2, than State Highway 30.

"There are no alternatives routes as this is not a busy road. We are not at the scene anymore and contractors are working to clear the slip."

'There is some surface flooding in Pyes Pa, on the Tauranga side of the school, and there are also reports of surface flooding around the city. For goodness sake drive carefully.”

Roxanne Place is closed.

Cameron Road

Areas of Cameron Road, particularly around 17th Avenue, Gate Pa shopping centre are suffering high amounts of water on the road. Drivers are urged to travel with care.

There are reports of a small slip on the Matamata side of the Kaimai Ranges.

SH36

State Highway 36 from Tauranga to Rotorua remains under 24hour single lane traffic control due to a slip during the last period of heavy rain. NZTA advises the risk remains high for mud slips on both sides.

SunLive will keep you updated with road closures throughout the day.