Wild weather: New flood and wind warnings issued

Weather warnings continue across the country as heavy rain, wind and fog have caused major travel disruptions, and new flood and wind warnings have been issued.

Flood warnings for Canterbury, and South Island roads and farms affected by heavy rains

Flooding is expected around some Canterbury rivers on Saturday afternoon and evening, and forecasters have warned of more severe weather expected across the South Island, including a heavy snow watch for Canterbury and Otago.

Drivers across the South Island were urged to take caution as a number of roads were already inundated by heavy overnight rain from Friday.

The Ashburton River was expected to overflow in places this afternoon and overnight, after a night of heavy rain along the Main Divide, and other rivers could too.

Canterbury Regional Council warned the flooding was expected to hit in farmland areas as rivers in the foothills and alpine rivers rise through the day, and they would continue monitoring the situation.

Environment Canterbury river flow manager Leigh Griffiths said consistent downpours over the past month had left the ground saturated, parts of the riverbank were severely weakened and high flows today would likely cause further damage.

“We’ve got vulnerable stopbanks in quite a few rivers… we are monitoring Ashburton very closely, the Rakaia and and Waimakere in particular will have very high flows.

“We’re not expecting big flows in the Opihi or Orari rivers, but we do have stopbank damage there, so we are monitoring them very closely.

“We are expecting the river to get out in certain places, and people are aware where they are primarily because they’re still damaged from floods last year and we have had some temporary repairs wash out in previous events in the last few weeks.”

Griffiths said some people living near rivers had been advised to move stock.

In Christchurch the westbound lanes of Harper Ave, at the northern end of Hagley Park, were blocked by a fallen tree late on Saturday morning.

Police said the tree would likely take “some time” to remove, and advised motorists to take other routes.

Surface flooding caused problems across various South Island state highways this morning.

Haast Pass was closed due to flooding, but reopened during Saturday with a surface flooding warning still in place.

A fallen tree and downed powerlines had also shut State Highway 77 at Mount Hutt.

Area warnings were issued for State Highway 8 between Twizel and Fairlie and between Ōhau and Mount Cook, and State Highway 6 from Hokitika to Fox Glacier.

Strong winds cut power in some parts of Otago and Southland. And fallen trees and wind damaged power lines in Kingston, Athol, Eyre Creek and other small settlements south of Lake Wakatipu.

Powernet said crews were at work fixing the problems, and they planned to have power restored by 3pm Saturday.

Rain watches and wind watches for central parts of the country

Motorists have been urged to take extra care as wet weather and strong winds hit central New Zealand.

Heavy rain watches have been issued for Golden Bay, Takaka and the Tararua Ranges, and strong wind watches for Wellington, Marlborough and Nelson.

Waka Kotahi said people driving high-sided vehicles and motorcycles need to take care on State Highway 2 over the Remutaka Hill, where rock-falls, fallen trees and other hazards could be expected on the highway network.

Road crews were on standby.

Fog disrupts flights in Auckland

Dozens of flights were stranded at Auckland Airport this morning after fog grounded smaller aircraft, but the restrictions were able to be lifted during the day.

About 28 domestic flights were delayed and 43 cancelled due to the weather conditions, though international flights were not affected.

It was the third morning in a row that flights were cancelled or delayed because of fog.

The disruptions to outgoing and incoming flights on Saturday morning involved several airlines flying to or from regions including Palmerston North, Whakatāne, New Plymouth and Blenheim.

Air New Zealand said the cancellations involved turboprop planes on the regional network, and passengers would be put onto alternative services throughout the day to clear the backlog.