Photo: Supplied

As work begins to clear extensive slips through the Waioeka Gorge on State Highway 2, Ōpōtiki District Council's Civil Defence welfare team still have their hands full providing support to isolated residents.

Ōpōtiki Mayor David Moore said he was relieved that there were no serious injuries during Friday's event, when more than 40 trapped motorists had to be airlifted out of the gorge.

Up to 40 slips blocked 60 kilometres of the state highway after the area received double its average January rainfall - about 322mm - over 48 hours, turning gullies into waterfalls, overwhelming and blocking culverts and triggering widespread debris fl

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