Flooding

Heavy rain is continuing to lash parts of the North Island after roads were closed and families forced to flee their homes in the upper South Island overnight.

Rivers and floodwaters are receding in the upper South Island after heavy rain overnight closed roads and forced families near Nelson to evacuate their homes.

Farmers are on high alert and children have been sent home from a local school as the Tasman District braces for flooding.

Heavy rain and flooding have prompted "boil-water" notices for half of the Central Otago district's town water supplies, and has also caused problems in South Otago.

Heavy criticism of the Otago Regional Council's Taieri flood and drainage review has led Cr Duncan Butcher to defend the council's position during annual plan hearings yesterday.

Opposition to the Otago Regional Council's proposed Taieri flood and drainage rating review is mounting, with nearly all the submissions to its annual plan on the subject against the changes.

Concerns from the Mosgiel community about potential flood risks to low-lying areas around Quarry Creek at East Taieri will be investigated by both the city and regional councils.

A piece of monitoring software failed during last month's flooding, leading to a delay of about three hours in telephone warnings to landowners.

An elderly Auckland man who survived a Fiordland flood by clinging to a rock for almost two days says he was never frightened, but was concerned about how he could get to safety.

The pump station on the Waipori River, which keeps more than 7000ha of the Taieri Plain dry, is to get a $1.1 million refurbishment, including new pumps.