Flood-hit Canterbury: Rain eases, state of emergencies remain
Selwyn District in Canterbury remains under a state of emergency, as the district council monitors river levels and other issues following yesterday's heavy rain.
A local state of emergency was also declared in Christchurch and Banks Peninsula last night as large parts of the country were hammered by torrential rain, gale-force winds, high seas and heavy snow.
Selwyn District Mayor Sam Broughton, at Darfield, told RNZ's Morning Report programme the weather had eased overnight and the forecast for today was positive.
"So, that's a good sign, but it is certainly very wet underfoot. There's a huge amount of surface flooding that's here, and I really want to thank everyone for the effort yesterday and overnight and appreciate what they did for our community, and to [Emergency Management and Recovery] Minister Mark Mitchell, who also visited - really appreciate the national and regional support in this."
There were a few people who were forced to leave home, he said, and the Lincoln Events Centre remained open for those who needed somewhere safe to stay.
"The state of emergency remains in place in Selwyn, and our emergency operation centre is fully operational and teams are out at first light again, checking and watching river levels particularly, which have peaked, but will only lower slowly as our rivers don't exit out into the ocean.
"Halswell River in particular is high and will continue to sort of creep higher… over the morning until that can be open - and that could be not today. It could be tomorrow. It just depends on conditions. It might be, over the weekend."
Christchurch Mayor Phil Mauger said the state of emergency, declared at 4pm yesterday, was due to the impact of the wet weather such as flooding, slips, landslide and falling trees, particularly on Banks Peninsula.
Parts of the Banks Peninsula settlement of Little River were under water, with homes and businesses flooded.
Canterbury Civil Defence and Emergency Management team leader Phill Mackay told RNZ this morning the situation in the region was improving.
Mackay said he was not aware of any formal evacuations overnight, though some people had self-evacuated to safer homes.
"I think the two biggest areas of concern is Banks Peninsula and the Selwyn District. I think the Banks Peninsula because they're totally isolated at the moment, obviously the priority is to get the roads reopened, and then start assessing these actual and potential landslide risks around the peninsula.
"So I think one thing we really need is daylight for the teams to get out to have a look at that.
"Within the Selwyn District it's the surface water, not so much the river flooding. The rivers are staying within their banks, even though they're extremely high, but there's just a lot of water out on paddocks across roads, within the district and the wider Canterbury region."
Thankfully there had not been widespread power outages, he said.
"We're lucky we've managed to keep the power on and the utilities have done a fantastic job in that space."
There were a number of road closures and roads affected by surface flooding across our local roading network today. Some of these key roads include: Springs Rd between Boundary Rd and Tancreds Rd, Leeston Rd/Drain Rd Goulds Rd Old Tai Tapu Rd between Tai Tapu Domain and Early Valley Rd.
State Highway 1 at Selwyn River remains open at this stage. The New Zealand Transport Agency/Waka Kotahi is continuing to monitor the situation and motorists should take care if you need to travel and drive to the conditions.
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