The flood risk remains high in coastal Otago, thanks to persistant rain which has saturated the ground, the Otago Regional Council says.
"As the ground has been heavily saturated from the sustained rainfall over the past few days, river flows can change quite quickly and everyone needs to be vigilant and keep a close eye on river levels and let authorities know immediately," duty flood manager Matt Hickey said.
Today's MetService forecast for Dunedin and North Otago predicted 20-40mm of rain in the nine hours from 9am to 6pm.
Most was expected to fall on the hills and ranges south of the Kakanui Mountains with rates of 4 to 6mm per hour from this morning to early afternoon.
Mr Hickey said the Silver Stream was steady at about 100 cumecs - about 60 cumecs below the level at which it begins to spill over into the Gordon Road Spillway.
However, it would only take a few hours of 10-15mm rainfall to reach this level and council staff will monitor this closely overnight.
The Taieri River at Outram was steady at 930 cumecs at 3pm, but it is expected to remain high overnight as floodwaters make their way down from the upper Taieri catchment.
Water is still spilling into the upper Taieri ponding area after the flood gate was lowered by council staff this morning.
The Shag, Kakanui and Waianakarua rivers all dropping from yesterday's peak flows.
Meanwhile, water flows are running above normal in the Pomahaka River and the Tokomairiro River is also slowly rising.
The council is continuing to advise those living in low-lying areas to keep a close watch on river flows and inform council of any flooding.
This morning, a rising Taieri River spilled over floodbanks near Outram but the Silver Stream, which runs alongside Mosgiel, started to level off after triggering flood alerts this morning.
The Taieri breached its third flood alert this morning and is spilling into the Upper East Taieri ponding area on the Taieri Plain downstream of Outram.
The Otago Regional Council said there was no threat to properties and the flood protection scheme was working as it should.
Meanwhile, floods in North Otago appear to have peaked, with the Shag, Kakanui and Waianakarua Rivers all dropping from yesterday's peak flows.
The ORC is continuing to advise those living in low-lying areas to keep a close watch on river flows and inform the council of any flooding.
