The area from the Queenstown Gardens through to the lower end of Beach St, across Earnslaw Park, was under 8cm-10cm of water and was still rising about 11pm, according to Otago Daily Times reporter David Williams, who was wading through the area.
It was still raining steadily at that stage.
Water was lapping at the foundations of Eichardts Hotel, despite sandbagging and the installation of huge concrete pipes along the lake's foreshore.
The water was knee deep in Earl St, near the Gardens Parkroyal, partly caused by a flooded Horne Creek.
Dunedin Raineffects Ltd hydrologist Dave Stewart said last night heavy, persistent rain in the high country could this week see Lakes Wanaka and Wakatipu reach their second highest levels in more than 150 years.
Mr Stewart said rainfalls in the Southern lakes headwaters since Sunday night were swelling the lakes at a rapid rate.
But he emphasised he could not predict how high the lakes would go until the rain stopped. It was still raining steadily last night.
Civil defence authorities and the Otago Regional Council were monitoring both lakes and it seems likely there will also be flooding in Wanaka today.
By 10pm yesterday, an elderly couple in Alexandra had been evacuated from their flood-prone home as a precautionary measure. Lake Roxburgh is expected to peak around 10am today.
Mr Stewart said there had been 271mm of rain in the Routeburn area from Sunday until 7pm yesterday. During the same period, 249mm fell in Mt Aspiring and 203mm was recorded in Makarora.
A MetService special bulletin issued at 8.32 last night predicted another 100mm to 150mm of rain on the main divide in the 18 to 24 hours from 9pm yesterday.
But rain was expected to ease in the Wakatipu area this afternoon. In the rest of Otago, another 25mm to 40mm of rain could fall until 9am tomorrow.
MAIN POINTS
• "Atrocious weather" near Mount Aspiring forces rescuers to abandon efforts to reach a Dunedin climber trapped on Bonar Glacier.
• Lake Wakatipu spills into central Queenstown late last night.
• Low-lying areas around Alexandra flooded as Clyde dam gates opened to spill 1800cu m of water from Lake Dunstan.
• Lake Wanaka rises steadily all day, threatening to flood the town's Helwick St business area. All roads out of Wanaka closed by 8pm.
• Haast Pass highway closed and other roads around Central Otago affected by slips and swollen creeks.
• A handful of trampers left in huts on Routeburn Track, trapped by heavy rain.
• More than 180mm of rain falls in Mount Cook in 24 hours but half-empty storage lakes cope well.
• Mataura River basin farmers forced to shift stock to higher ground.
• Otago Regional Council issues "stage two" flood warning for Clutha delta farmers to move stock.
• Clutha River near capacity at Balclutha but no serious threat of flooding.
• Heavy rain expected to continue until this afternoon.
November 18: Much of Central Otago and parts of Southland were in disaster mode last night as some of the worst floods in 120 years ravaged the region's major towns.
A civil emergency was declared early in Alexandra yesterday and the situation got worse by the hour, with dozens of businesses being flooded last night as the Clutha River continued its inexorable rise.
The commercial area of Queenstown was badly affected much earlier in the day as Lake Wakatipu flowed waist deep through the waterfront area.
It was confirmed late last night at a press briefing that Lake Wakatipu had reached a record high of 312.65m, eclipsing the 1878 level by 2cm. Authorities warned the lake was still rising.
In Wanaka, it was much the same story as shops in the Helwick St area opposite the Lake Wanaka foreshore bore the brunt of steadily-rising floodwaters throughout the day.
Further south, in Balclutha, authorities fear the worst today as the Clutha River struggled to cope last night with the deluge of water produced in its vast catchment.
But those fears were more of a reality for residents in Mataura late last night as some were advised to leave their homes to escape the rising Mataura River.
About 11pm workers began sandbagging in Salford St, Gore.
As night fell in Alexandra, a wailing burglar alarm in the deserted Bendigo Hotel created an eerie atmosphere in lower Tarbert St as about 20 people stood silently and watched the river rise ever higher.
The Bendigo Hotel, Molyneux Motors and three other businesses in lower Tarbert St had several centimetres of water through their ground floors and virtually all businesses in adjacent Limerick St were also flooded, along with all those in Athlone St.
The river had also entered the Furniture Court-Carpet Court complex and was lapping at the front door of the Alexandra police station, the neighbouring district court and the huge William Fraser Building, which houses the Central Otago District Council, Otago Regional Council and several government departments.
It appeared all those buildings would be flooded during the night, as the river was still rising steadily as night fell.