Motorists are being advised to take extreme care on West Coast and Canterbury roads this weekend and road closures, flooding and wind warnings already in place throughout the region.
State Highway 6, between Haast township and Makarora, remained closed last night after heavy rain in the area brought rock and material down on the highway on Thursday night at the Diana Falls slip site and other areas through the Haast valley.
New Zealand Transport Agency's senior network manager Mark Pinner said geotechnical experts would be on site this morning to check whether the Diana Falls slip had stabilised.
''Once it is safe, our contractors will begin clearing the slip and get SH6 open as soon as possible.''
Further north, SH73, from Arthurs Pass to Jacksons, was also closed yesterday by two slips in the area, including a massive slip on the West Coast side of Otira, where up to 8000cum of rock and material had fallen on to the highway.
The slip stretched along 100m of the road and was up to 6m high, Mr Pinner said.
''Further west, we have flooding at Kellys Creek and another slip at Aickens. This slip is about 20m long and contains about 1000cu m of rock and material.''
How quickly the highways would reopen depended largely on how much rain fell last night and whether any more material came down, Mr Pinner said.
