Homes evacuated, towns cut off as heavy rain hits top of South Island

Heavy rain is building in the top of the South Island, with a number of homes evacuated and roads closed as motorists face dangerous driving conditions.

The road closures have cut off Tākaka and Collingwood in the west from Motueka and Nelson in the east, while authorities warn there is “no easy access Blenheim at present” either.

“Nelson Tasman Civil Defence advises against travelling on the road at this time, as there are a number of slips and road closures in place,” Nelson City Council said on Facebook.

The homes evacuated were located in the Old Mill and Swamp Rd areas, close to Motueka and the Abel Tasman National Park, northwest of Nelson.

It comes as MetService earlier issued a heavy rain warning for the Nelson-Tasman and Marlborough regions. These will be in place through to 9pm tonight for the eastern areas and until 3pm tomorrow for the western areas.

With the rainfall already starting, forecasters are tipping those falls in Nelson and Motueka to increase in heaviness in the next 2-3 hours.

It could lead to a further 100mm of rain falling before the warnings end, MetService said.

Streams and rivers could rise rapidly, and any deluge could cause surface flooding, slips and make driving dangerous, it said.

Local authorities said those evacuated from their homes overnight had been able to take refuge in a civil defence centre set up in Motueka.

The Nelson Tasman Civil Defence team also said flooding at Waitapu Bridge had closed State Highway 60 in Tākaka.

“With no detours available, this means there is no access between Tākaka and Collingwood,” it said.

“Also on State Highway 60, there is localised flooding at the intersection of Riwaka-Kaiteriteri Rd. A 30 km/h speed limit is in place.

“Contractors have been dealing with slips and rockfalls across the region’s highways overnight. These, along with localised flooding, are expected to remain a risk as the wet weather continues.”

Further south, a heavy rain watch was in place for the Buller region from Sunday through to Tuesday.

Meanwhile, in Auckland, where wet weather hampered both the morning and evening commute yesterday, today is set for rain and clouds, MetService said.

Temperatures in the city are expected to hit 21C with a low of 17C. MetService said the tropical air which was bringing the rain also made for unusually warm and humid conditions for May.

“Several spots across the motu have even had their warmest May temperatures on record. These include Auckland, Hamilton, Whanganui and Queenstown,” MetService said.

MetService had issued an overnight orange heavy rain warning for Northland, where up to 100mm of rain had been likely to fall over 21 hours from 9am yesterday to 6am today.

But Civil Defence Northland this morning declared the inclement weather to have eased.

MetService meteorologist Andrew James said the affected regions had been hit with a lot of rain recently and further falls “could cause significant impacts”.

“Rain sticks around the through the weekend and into early next week, but snakes back and forth over western parts of both islands,” he said.

The National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research said the atmospheric river, which has brought a waterfall of rain throughout this week, could clearly be seen in satellite images.