North Otago had a lucky escape with little damage from heavy rain and flooding on Monday and early Tuesday, Waitaki emergency services manager Chris Raine said yesterday.
The region started to dry out yesterday with rivers falling rapidly, some down below half of flows during peak flooding.
Yesterday afternoon, the Waitaki District Council still had 16 road closed with surface flooding and about 40 others with cautions.
Mr Raine said the biggest problems from the floods were two logs backed up on the Kakanui River bridge at Kakanui (removed late Tuesday afternoon) which could have caused damage, some flooding of farmland next to the river and the Otekaieke River bursting its banks and flowing across State Highway 83 between Duntroon and Kurow, but not deep enough to close the road.
The rainfall of more than 40mm on the coast and 100mm in the North Otago foothills did not cause major damage or stock losses, and farmers had plenty of warning to shift animals to higher ground.
Little rain since February meant the ground was dry and able to absorb the initial falls.
Mr Raine and civil defence in the Waitaki district kept a watch on flood levels as heavy rain hit from late on Monday afternoon then eased from 7pm on Tuesday.
Yesterday, the situation was still being monitored.
That was helped by putting civil defence co-ordinators in communities throughout the district on standby from Monday to monitor the situation in their communities and report back to the Oamaru headquarters.
Those reports started coming in from 6am on Tuesday.
Mr Raine had access to more volunteers this time than in flooding over four days in May 2010 which caused major damage, having boosted Civil Defence numbers.
The ground in coastal North Otago was now saturated and any further heavy rain could cause problems.
Moderate rain was being forecast for tomorrow night.
In South Canterbury, authorities were keeping a close watch on rivers, as heavy rain that brought extensive surface flooding to the region eased.
Between 130mm and 230mm fell in South Canterbury foothills since Monday, increasing rivers to 20 year or more highs. For example, the Opihi River at State Highway 1, near Temuka, rose from 4cumecs to 967cumecs.
Environment Canterbury said rain fell at intensities of 8-10mm an hour throughout much of Monday, before easing on Tuesday.
Surface flooding in low-lying parts of the region, closed roads and authorities evacuated about 10 residents beside the Pareora River, near Timaru, on Tuesday night. They returned home yesterday.
Rain swells rivers
Rainfall from Monday to 4pm yesterday:
• Oamaru 47mm.
• Waihaorunga 104mm.
• Danseys Pass 103mm.
• The Dasher 100mm.
• Otekaieke 82mm.
• Morven 68mmClifton Falls 64mm.
• River peaks:Kakanui 420cumecsKauru 35cumecsWaianakarua 98cumecs.
• Maerewhenua 98cumecs.
• Otematata: 66cumecs.
• Hakataramea 475cumecs.
• Waihao 495cumecs.
