Heavy rain and strong wind had campers fleeing in Otago yesterday morning.
Hayden Stevenson, of Richmond, said a ''really strong'' wind on Thursday night at Lowburn Harbour, Lake Dunstan, spurred him, his wife and four children to move their caravan to a safer place.
Most of the 20 other groups of campers at Lowburn Harbour made the same decision, he said.
Fearful the caravan would tip over in the wind, he stopped for the night at Mt Stuart reserve, which is between Milton and Lawrence.
''It was a bit hairy.''
When the wind kept blowing and tree branches started falling on to the caravan the family travelled to Dunedin and, failing to find an open camping ground, parked at Jubilee Park about 2am yesterday.
The family had been caravaning since Boxing Day and the weather yesterday morning was ''easily the wildest'' the family had endured.
Campers and others staying beside or using the Waitaki hydro lakes and the Waitaki River are being warned to be wary of rising lake and river levels, after a deluge of rain on Thursday and yesterday.
On Thursday night, 300mm of rain fell on the Main Divide, eastern inland areas around North Otago also getting a good soaking.
Environment Canterbury duty flood controller Chris Fauth said
about 200mm of rain fell at Mt Cook on Wednesday and Thursday, while at Panorama Ridge, at the top of Lake Tekapo, nearly 300mm of rain fell during the same two days.
The headwaters of the Ahuriri River had recorded 170mm of rain over that period, and Meridian Energy had started to spill water from its dams at Aviemore, Benmore and Pukaki, Mr Fauth said.
''Significant'' spills would continue for several days.
''We had quite a lot of rain overnight, so there is a lot of increased inflows now going into the lakes,'' he said yesterday.
''The rivers connecting the lakes will be at higher-than-normal flows, but we wouldn't expect out-of-river flood problems - but it's obviously an issue for campers and recreational users.
''People certainly camping on the margins of the lakes and fishing on the riverbed, and driving through the riverbed and obviously camping near the riverbed, need to be wary that flows will change and also the patterns of flows might change.
''Where there is not water, water might get into different areas.''
The lower Waitaki River was also expected to rise ''significantly'' from today, as increased flows made their way from higher ground, he said.
