As the South Island looks to recover from wet weather the Bay of Plenty is now in the firing line.

A heavy rain band has been shifting eastwards across the central North Island early on Sunday.

Metservice is warning the Bay of Plenty east of Whakatane could expect 90 to 120 millimetres of rain to accumulate by 3pm.

Gisborne/Tairawhiti north of Gisborne City is expected to get between 120 to 150 mm of rain, but 170 to 220 mm north of Tolaga Bay between 9am Sunday and 5pm with the worst expected between Sunday late morning and afternoon.

Bay of Plenty Civil Defence is warning residents to keep an eye out on the forecast and be prepared for power outages and hazardous driving conditions.

”We are well practised with these weather events in the Bay, and as we know it’s always important to be prepared,” it says in a Facebook post.

Queenstown suffers wettest day in 24 years

A month’s worth of rain fell in just 24 hours in the tourist hotspot, triggering landslides and heavy flooding.

Road snow warnings were also in place in the South Island. Snow is expected at Lewis Pass (SH7) from 6am-11am and Arthur's Pass (SH73) and Porters Pass (SH73) from 4am - 11am.

The rain comes after the lower south experienced a soggy start to the weekend for many.

Queenstown and Southland’s local state of emergencies were lifted on Saturday afternoon after heavy rain battered the regions causing flooding and evacuations.

Queenstown recorded its wettest 24-hour period in 24 years after 87mm of rain fell between 9am Thursday to 9am Friday, according to Niwa.

Brianna Mcilraith/Stuff