As rain continued for the fifth day yesterday and with more forecast, the Otago Regional Council was warning coastal Otago residents to stay on alert for flooding.
Rivers on the Taieri began to rise again yesterday afternoon and the MetService was warning another 40mm to 70mm of rain could fall through to this morning.
The most extensive rain was expected in the early hours which meant rivers and streams were likely to peak about daylight, council environmental information and science director Dr John Threlfall said.
Coastal Otago rivers, including the Silver Stream, Taieri River and those in North Otago, were likely to rise today, but not to the extent of earlier in the week, he said.
"People should exercise additional caution on the roads, and around rivers and bridges, as waters can rise very quickly at this time."
The latest burst came on top of significant rainfall earlier this week and some snow to high levels, he said.
"The ground is quite sodden from a sustained period of rain, and river flows can change quite quickly with an increase in rainfall."
In the 24 hours to 4pm yesterday, 20mm of rain fell in Dunedin City, 41mm in Oamaru and 24mm in the Dasher, North Otago, well down on the 60mm to 155mm that fell in a similar period earlier this week.
The Taieri River at Outram reached its second alert yesterday afternoon and was at 485cumecs last night, well below its peak earlier in the week of 953cumecs.
The Silver Stream had passed its first alert and was at 65cumecs last night, still below its peak earlier in the week of 118cumecs.
Hydrologist Dave Stewart, of Dunedin, said rainfall intensity had dropped from about 10mm an hour in some places to 4mm to 6mm yesterday afternoon.
"It's not enough to cause flooding."
It was the first time in many months the city had experienced such persistent rain.
In the past seven days, 303mm had fallen at Sullivans Dam, 203mm at Pine Hill, 219mm at Silver Stream and 121mm at Deep Stream.
The rain was expected to ease this weekend and the weather become fine about Monday in time for the first day of winter on Tuesday.
With the snow that had fallen and the cooler temperatures it was likely frosts would soon follow, he said.
Some roads on the Taieri and those with river or stream crossings remained closed yesterday because of flooding.
As the temperatures dropped, power use went up.
New Zealand's national grid operator Transpower recorded a maximum demand of 496MW for the past week, compared with 458MW in the previous week.
Communications manager Rebecca Wilson said a mild autumn had pushed back the increase but the adverse weather which hit the country on Monday resulted in a jump in power use.
The highest use of power was on Thursday.
