MetService reported 105mm of rain fell at Oamaru Airport over the past 72 hours, compared with a long-term average of 44.7mm for the entire month of November.
But Waitaki District Council assets group manager Neil Jorgensen said it was still too early to tell if the district had suffered significant damage from the storm.
As the waterlogged district started to dry out, crews would investigate.
Early yesterday, fire crews "accidentally" discovered the large hole in Westview Dr, Weston, as they pumped flood water threatening homes in nearby Grove Ave into the early hours of the morning.
Weston Volunteer Fire Brigade chief fire officer Bevan Koppert said about 11.30pm crews were called to a flooded unoccupied newly built house in Grove Ave by concerned neighbours.
Firefighters discovered the hole in Westview Dr when they went to investigate the cause of the flooding.
About eight firefighters, including the Waitaki Rural Fire Force who joined the effort later, pumped water for four or five hours until the rain stopped.
Mr Jorgensen said he could not yet say whether the culvert had become blocked or partially collapsed.
He said a similar issue caused a flood in the area in 2012 when the top of the culvert collapsed.
The Weston Volunteer Fire Brigade had responded to about seven callouts since the rain began, including a flooded section yesterday morning about 10.45am, Mr Koppert said.
Three swollen rivers in the Waitaki Valley had closed a section of the Alps 2 Ocean cycle trail from Kurow to Duntroon, council recreation manager Erik van der Spek said.
Elderslie to Enfield was also closed.Those sections of the trail would not be reopened until next week at the earliest with rain forecast to continue.
