Motorists in Christchurch had to overcome flooding and debris this morning caused by the storm that swept across the South Island yesterday.
Heavy rain and wind caused widespread disruption, with Christchurch recording 72mm of rain over 24 hours. Most roads in the city have reopened today, although parts of New Brighton Rd and Avonside Drive remained closed Wednesday morning.
On the Banks Peninsula, the following locations are closed due to flooding and slippage:
- Pipers Valley Road (from #118 to Summit Rd)
- Tizzards Rd
- Le Bons Bay Valley Rd, from the second bridge. Contractors are busy clearing the road and hope to have it cleared by the end of the day.
- Okains Bay Rd, from Summit Road to River Rd
- Camerons Track, from Summit Road to Big Hill Rd
A number of other roads including Purau Port Levy Road, Little Akaloa Road, Port Levy Pigeon Bay Road, Takamatua Road, Long Bay Road and Summit Road have flooding or skidding but are open to traffic, although some have only one lane of traffic.
The contractors are working to clear them as quickly as possible.
The MetService has warned that more rain is expected later this week.
In Otago, between 70mm and 100mm of rain fell in the 24 hours to 10 a.m. today, much of it at night.
Further inland, the rain manifested itself as snow and caused significant dumps on skifields and at Mt Cook.
In Otago, snow was expected to drop to 500 meters, possibly 200 meters in some inland valleys.
Waitaki District Council road manager Mike Harrison said the ground in the district was quite wet and localized skidding was possible.
“Right now we are under surveillance so all our contractors have mobilized their equipment so they are in a good position where they can reach it.”
In Christchurch, where more than 50mm of rain had fallen by 5pm, there were localized floods all over the city.
Marlborough also suffered severe flooding.
Eve Bruhns, the Otago Regional Council’s flood officer on duty, said the MetService yesterday raised the forecast rainfall level for the region, meaning all flood warning systems were closely monitored.
“There will likely be some low-lying farmland flooding in northern Otago watersheds, including the Kakanui River, and the Gordon Rd spillway along the Silver Stream at Mosgiel could be put into action,” she said.
Close monitoring was also carried out today for any coastal uprisings during high tide at 2:30 am, although that was considered unlikely.
“In Dunedin, no throughput is expected from the Lindsay Creek Canal in the North East Valley or from the Water of Leith Canal, and peak flows on the Clutha River at Balclutha are not expected to exceed 2,000 cumecs,” Ms Bruhns said. .
The expected peak flow was significantly lower than the peak seen in the February 2020 floods, Ms Bruhns said.
In Clutha, council spokeswoman Diane Byers said flood signs were being put up where necessary, but the rain did not stop.
Surface flooding is widespread in the district with many affected being Clutha Valley Rd, Blackburn Rd, Pillans Rd, High St in Kakapuaka and Toko Mouth Rd.
“The creeks are rising and a few more roads will suffer from rising water levels in the coming hours.”
There is also a major slip on Coal Gully Rd which Clutha District Council contractors are trying to control.
The Pomahaka River was rising but was still below the flood warning level.
The Waimate district council said “quite some surface flooding” was also expected across the district.
In South Canterbury, snow fell in the Mackenzie district and heavy rainfall in the rest of the region, while snow and ice caused several road closures in and around Fairlie.
The Queenstown Lakes area had a heavy snowfall warning yesterday, following forecasts of 6 to 10 inches of snow on parts of Crown Range Rd between Queenstown and Wanaka.
Although the road was closed, two cars got stuck in a ditch around 12:40 p.m. and had to be freed by a grader.
Passengers in four cars were also caught in the closure of the Aoraki Mount Cook Highway (SH80).
wild weather
Highway closures: Crown Range Rd, Burkes Pass, the Aoraki Mount Cook Highway and Lindis Pass are all closed by snow.
Road closures in Dunedin: Gladfield Rd to Silverstream ford, Flagstaff/Whare Flat Rd, Miller Rd to Waitati River ford, Waitati Valley ford north of Donald Rd and Miller Rd.
Injury: Rock falls, fallen trees and slips have blocked roads; floodwaters are being monitored but not expected to be as severe as 2020
Outlook for today: Heavy rain expected until at least 10am, then decreasing, but it will remain a wet day.
-Additional reporting Geoff Sloan (Public Interest Journalism funded by NZ On Air)