Heavy rain has brought flooding to mid-Canterbury as the tail end of a huge winter storm continues to cause havoc in storm-battered capital.
About 1500 households in the Wellington region are still without power today after winds of up to 200kmh ripped roofs off buildings, bowled over trees and damaged coastal roads and sea walls on Thursday and Friday.
The low that brought the storm is expected to move away from the country tonight, but it is continuing to bring showers and snow flurries to parts of both islands today.
In mid-Canterbury, a flood alert is in place for the Halswell River and firefighters are helping to put up sand bags in Leeston, where flooding is threatening a number of homes.
Leeston volunteer fire chief Noel Thian said they had received about 50 calls from residents since 8am.
He said some water had been getting into houses but none were inundated and no properties had been evacuated.
"We're flat out trying to sand-bag houses and properties."
Mr Thian said pumping the water would not help.
"We've got nowhere to pump it to. You can't pump it out to the streets because it runs back in again," he said.
"It's just one of those things, Mother Nature. You can't change it. If she says it's going to rain, it rains, and we just can't turn it off."
A Selwyn District Council spokeswoman said there was significant flooding in Leeston, Doyleston, Southbridge, Tai Tapu and Lincoln.
However, Civil Defence had no intention to evacuate worst-hit Leeston at this stage.
"Water inside homes is not widespread at all - if this is affecting properties, it's only a very small number. There's no reports of floodwater inside houses, but lots of water around the township."
The wastewater systems in Leeston, Tai Tapu and Lincoln were still working, but the council was asking residents to reduce the strain on the system by reducing toilet use and avoiding the use of dishwashers, washing machines, showers and baths.
A number of roads and river fords in the Selwyn district, including State Highway 73, were closed due to flooding. Motorists were advised to avoid driving and to take care if they did need to use vehicles.
In Dunedin today, an early morning landslip on Blanket Bay Rd, Sawyers Bay, forced the evacuation of 11 homes. Residents were given the all-clear to return later that morning.
The weather is continuing to make conditions treacherous on the roads, with warnings in place for highways in the central North Island and the South Island affected by snow.
In Wellington, authorities continued the clean-up today even as rain brought more slips and surface flooding.
A Fire Service central communications spokesman said firefighters had been called to about 20 homes with leaking roofs in the Wellington region since 7am today.
Civil Defence group chairwoman and Kapiti Mayor Jenny Rowan said hundreds of workers and volunteers had toiled in atrocious and often dangerous conditions to to get power restored, roads reopened, damaged roofs secured and fallen trees removed.
She urged residents to lend a helping hand to clear leaves and debris from drains, as council call centres were getting a steady stream of calls to report surface flooding.
Most main roads around the region were now open, including the coastal road between Island Bay and Owhiro Bay, but motorists were advised to take care.
Council staff were today inspecting road access to the coastal community of Makara due to concerns the heavy rain may cause flooding in the area.
Wellington Electricity said a large number of the 30,000 customers who were left without power by the storm now had electricity restored.
However, about 1500 customers still have no power including in Whitemans Valley, Titahi Bay, Wainuiomata, Miramar, Kingsley Heights, Makara, Ohariu Valley, Newlands, Johnsonville, Plimmerton, Mana, Days Bay and Porirua.
