Flood conditions are easing in some coastal Otago areas as rainfall eases but State Highway 1 south of Milton will be closed until at least tomorrow and the Taieri River is continuing to rise.
Flooding has swamped farmland and caused widespread road closures in coastal Otago today. At one stage SH1 was closed between Waihola and Balclutha. The road is now open north of Milton but closed south of the town, where SH8 to Lawrence is also closed.
Emergency services say they have become frustrated with motorists attempting to detour around Milton and then running into trouble. All motorists have been advised to stay away from the Milton area until further notice.
A group of 10 is stranded at Bull Creek, 22kms east of Milton, after the road cracked apart and became impassable. See photos
Milton man John Stewart told NZPA he had lived in the town for 50 years and while he had seen worse flooding, "I don't think I've see as much rain as this".
Milton and rural North Otago residents are being urged to conserve water, as schemes were closed due to dirty water.
SH1 is also closed at Karitane, north of Dunedin, and between Pukeuri and Hilderthorpe, north of Oamaru, with a detour available via SH83 and Seven Mile Road.
The Otago Regional Council says rainfall is starting to decrease across coastal Otago with MetService expecting another 5-10 mm over the next 12 hours.
However, a flood warning remains in place for the Taieri River at Outram which is continuing to rise, and may reach 1600m3/sec as flows continue to drain through the catchment.
"This level will cause a significant amount of spillage into the Taieri Flood Protection Scheme ponding areas. The Taieri is expected to have high flows for a few days," the ORC said in a statement.
Flooding and slips have closed many Dunedin roads today and a close eye has been kept on a brimming Lake Mahinerangi.
In Dunedin, there have also been three slips on Otago Peninsula, one sweeping a glasshouse and shed down Portobello road, closing the town's main route to Dunedin.
The Dunedin City Council was reporting many roads closed this afternoon because of flooding and blockages, including parts of Portobello Rd, Highcliff Rd, Queens Drive (from Stuart St to City Rd), Three Mile Hill Rd and Murdering Beach Road.
In Mosgiel sections of Reid Avenue, Riccarton Road, and Hartstonge Ave are closed.
At the same time a close watch was being kept on Lake Mahinerangi, with homeowners in the Berwick area told they "need to be ready" in case the lake has to be spilled down the Waipori River.
"We are hoping we don't need to evacuate," Dunedin City Council Civil Defence manager Neil Brown said.
SH1 was closed south of Milton just before noon, effectively closing the road between Waihola and Balclutha.
Many roads in the Milton township are also closed and SH8 Lawrence to Clarkesville is also closed.
Elsewhere, a landslide slammed into a building at Berwick Camp with 42 people sleeping inside and "shunted it across the road" this morning after heavy overnight rain.
Dunedin police said nobody was hurt at the camp south of Outram although four vehicles were trapped by the landslide, which happened at 6.54am.
"The building was basically shunted across the road," Senior Sergeant Brian Benn told the ODT.
The building belonged to the Otago Youth Club Trust and among those evacuated were Red Cross emergency teams on a weekend training exercise.
Also this morning, a family was evacuated from Henley after calling police and telling them they were stranded.
Police and search and rescue rescued the family, Senior Sergeant Benn told the ODT.
Two properties were evacuated at Long Beach.
In Mosgiel the Silver Stream, swollen by heavy over night rain, was lapping the top of its banks in Mosgiel, sparking a Civil Defence alert, but is now dropping.
An Otago Regional Council spokesman said there was "a bit of seepage over the top of the floodbanks" between Riccarton Road and Gordon Road.
The water supply at Palmerston, between Dunedin and Oamaru, has been turned off but desperate residents can use a tap and hose to fill containers with fresh drinking water at the town's Whitestone Contracting Yard.
Containers could also be filled from tankers at the Herbert garage and the Papakaio Hall, while the army was delivering 20 jerry cans of water to the Dunback Hotel for distribution.
Civil Defence said the extent of damage to roads throughout the region would not be clear for some weeks, and it would be some months before repairs were completed.
The cost of fixing up the flood damage would be in the millions of dollars, but it was too early to know exactly how much.
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