flooding

Further downpours overnight led to five more rescues of people trapped by floodwaters and landslips, and a significant landslip in Titirangi.

Chris Hipkins said Auckland has a big clean-up ahead from the torrential rain that began on Friday causing unprecedented flooding around the city.

"And then of course we've got the uncertainty of what the weather's going to do over the next few days still ahead of us ... so it's still a very challenging time for Auckland."

RNZ Pacific's correspondent in Port Vila said there's flooding in some areas of the capital and road blocks caused by fallen trees.

Hilaire Bule said some parts of Port Vila were enduring power cuts.

Irene has caused mainly damage to the fruits trees such as avocado and banana.

The Vanuatu Meteorology and Geo-Hazard Department said Irene is expected to hit the Island of Tanna, in south Vanuatu at midday Thursday local time.

A red alert is in place for Tafea, Shefa and Malampa provinces, while Penama and Sanma provinces are on yellow alert.

Area Administrator of Central Tanna, John Bill Iamul, said the grandmother - accompanied by some of her children - went to do some washing at a creek almost two kilometres away from her home.

A landslide swept her over cliffs 100 metres away from where she had been washing.

Iamul said the situation highlighted that accessing water continues to remain the main challenge for this community.

The Cuban weather service said the downpours would last until Saturday afternoon, bringing more than 20cm (8in) of rain to some places.

Western and central areas of the country, including Havana, are the worst affected.

Hurricane Agatha hit Mexico last Monday, killing nine people.

Nearly 2,000 people have evacuated their homes in Havana, and around 50,000 people in and around the city are without electricity.

Evacuation centres have been prepared to shelter people from the rain, the state-affiliated Cuban News Agency reported.

Rising water levels in the town of Lismore forced the closure of the team's base camp at Lake Ainsworth, with on-site residents including the Drua squad and staff having to evacuate.

The squad moved out of camp on Wednesday and has relocated to the Gold Coast where they will play the New South Wales Waratahs tonight, before taking on the Brumbies in Brisbane next weekend.

CEO Brian Thorburn said they had no choice but to move the entire squad to another state.

Conditions were rapidly deteriorating by mid-afternoon on Wednesday as the effects of an east-coast low, which caused deadly floods in Queensland and northern NSW, hit the state's capital.

The Bureau of Meteorology's Dean Narramore said catchments already drenched by weeks of consistent rain were being bombarded with 50 to 100mm of fresh downpours, and it was expected to continue into the morning.

"A dangerous situation is evolving," he warned.

Torrential rain sparked widespread destruction, with flood water from overflowing dams submerging thousands of homes on the islands.

The affected area stretched from Flores island in eastern Indonesia to the neighbouring nation of Timor Leste.

Rescuers are still attempting to find survivors, and officials warned the death toll could rise further.

"Four sub-districts and seven villages have been impacted," Indonesian Disaster Mitigation Agency spokesperson Raditya Jati told reporters.

Dozens of people have been rescued from floodwaters, and residents in many low-lying communities of New South Wales have been ordered to leave their homes.

Police say hundreds of people have flocked to evacuation centres in areas north of the city of Sydney.

Major roads have been shut. Footage has emerged of a house being swept away.

Warragamba dam in Sydney, the city's main water source, has begun to overflow for the first time since 2016, and WaterNSW warns others are also expected to spill over.

The storm's sluggish speed, roughly 5mph (7km/h), increases its capacity for destruction, pummelling coastal states with heavy rain.

The National Hurricane Center (NHC) reported flooding from Tallahassee, Florida to Mobile Bay in Alabama.

It also warned of a "life-threatening" storm surge and river flooding inland as far as Georgia.

Hurricane Sally is one of several storms in the Atlantic Ocean, with officials running out of letters to name the hurricanes as they near the end of their annual alphabetic list.

Vanuatu is bracing for a direct hit from the still intensifying Cyclone Harold, which is forecast to pass straight over the central islands, forcing the country to contend with dual emergencies.

Harold, a category four storm, was sitting off the country's west and continuing to strengthen on Sunday afternoon.

The system had slowed to a crawl, said Fred Jockley, a forecaster at the Vanuatu Meteorological Service, a worrying development as a slow-moving cyclone allows it to absorb more moisture, thus gaining size and strength.