Marlborough, West Coast and Nelson Tasman remain in a state of emergency this morning because of severe flooding and a second dose of heavy rainfall overnight.
Though the rain hitting the saturated top of the North Island was expected to have peaked at about 6am this morning.
Road damage in Nelson, visible after some flood water receded.
Photo:
In Nelson, the Matai River rose swiftly again overnight and Civil Defence workers were checking all properties that were evacuated on Thursday to ensure none had been reoccupied.
Controller Rob Smith said they would need to be re-evacuated as a precaution.
He said the Nelson Tasman area now had 440 evacuated properties: most were in Nelson but about 10 were in Golden Bay.
Live: Keep up with the latest developments in the RNZ blog, below
Smith said anyone who felt unsafe, or who saw indications of land movement such as cracks, deformation, odd noises, or water popping up in the wrong place, should evacuate.
In Northland, State Highway 1 is also closed through the Mangamuka Gorge and State Highway 10 has been closed due to flooding in Kaeo.
Police were warning of treacherous driving conditions across Marlborough due to slips and surface flooding.
The Rai River had its biggest flood on record on Thursday night, and the nearby Tunakino Valley has had more than 760 millimetres of rainfall since Tuesday.
Mayor John Leggett said the main issues for his council were in the Rai River catchment and northwest into the sounds.
“When you look at State Highway 6, which is our connection with Blenheim through to Nelson, that road has taken a major, major hit and it’s going to take days to be able to clear that to be able to allow traffic through.”
The alternative route, State Highway 63, which runs alongside the Wairau River, is also closed, effectively cutting Blenheim and Nelson off from each other.
Leggett said the Marlborough region hadn’t really ‘dried out’ from major flooding in 2021, or got on top of the roading issues that resulted from it.
Follow all of today’s latest weather developments with RNZ’s live blog:
Discussion about this post