Abrief calm before new storm hits
The storm that battered the South Island and caused Dunedin, Timaru, Waitaki and the wider Otago region to declare a state of emergency will ease this afternoon.
MetService meteorologist Tuporo Marsters said the complex system would start to move off to the east, towards the Chatham Islands.
This would provide a brief respite from the stormy weather tomorrow, as a ridge moved over the country.
However, another front was looking to swoop in by lunchtime on Monday, meaning those in flood-stricken towns would need to move quickly with the clean-up before bracing for more bad weather.
Dunedin, Timaru, Waitaki and the wider Otago region declared a state of emergency last night.
As river levels rose significantly during Friday evening and overnight, more than 200 properties were evacuated across Otago.
The Defence Force was called in to help get people out of Dunedin City, Mosgiel, Oamaru, Hilderthorpe, Ashburton and Outram as floodwaters and the rising Taieri River threatened homes.
Residents in affected areas have been told to prepare for further evacuations.
This morning, all state highways across the Otago region were closed, as well as numerous road closures. Access to the Otago Peninsula is cut off by several major slips as steady rain continues to fall.
The weather-related mayhem overwhelmed emergency services, who also dealt with calls of people trapped in cars in floodwaters, and slips, including one that fell on an Oamaru home.
MetService’s Marsters said heavy rain continued to fall from Christchurch to Otago this morning. The heaviest rain was falling on areas that had already taken a hammering, including Ashburton and Geraldine.
Heavy rain warnings and snow warnings remained in place.
Canterbury — from Arthur’s Pass to Banks Peninsula, northwards — was in for further periods of heavy rain until about midday today, especially about the foothills and ranges.
In the 15 hours from 9pm yesterday to midday today, a further 30-40 millimetres of rain was expected to fall in these areas, with intensities reaching 15mm an hour.
That rain would turn to snow above 800 metres this morning.
North Otago, and Canterbury — from Arthur’s Pass to Banks Peninsula, southwards — was also in for heavy rain until midday.
In the 15 hours to midday today, a further 50-60mm of rain was expected to accumulate.
Snow was expected to fall to 600m about inland North Otago early this morning. Similarly heavy rain would continue to fall in Dunedin this morning.
Road snowfall warnings were in place for Lewis Pass (SH7), Arthur’s Pass (SH73), Lindis Pass (SH8) and Dunedin to Waitati Highway (SH1).
Westland and Fiordland were also in for gales, with gusts up to 140 kilometres an hour today.
And strong winds that hit Wellington and Wairarapa last night would turn to strong southerlies by this afternoon.
This afternoon and tomorrow the heavy rain would give way to showers in eastern parts, including Gisborne, Marsters said.
Showers would continue in parts of the country tomorrow but overall the situation was looking much better.
Kiwis would get about a day and a half of decent weather before another storm approached, Marsters said.