???1;Hawke's Bay still faces a communications outage - with roads blocked, power, cellphone and internet coverage sparse, and water impacted

There are pleas for people to stay off the roads - to avoid blocking emergency evacuation work., and people in Napier are also being asked to urgently conserve water

Thousands have evacuated from homes, with emergency services and the Defence Force working hard to help.

General Practices are shut in Napier and Hawkes Bay, but a 24 hour urgent care clinic is running at Napier Health Centre.

There were urgent evacuations at Te Awa Estates this morning and Napier's Mayor says more may be needed.

Wairoa has been completely cut off -- and Mayor, Craig Little has urgently requested emergency assistance, saying they only have a couple of days supplies.