As the level of Lake Wanaka peaked early on Saturday, Lakeland Adventure owners Simon and Danni Stewart were busy checking to see whether their waterfront business would be inundated.
However, after two days of sunshine, concerns about the immediate effects of a swollen Lake Wanaka had eased for the Stewarts.
The level of the lake had receded to 279.05m above sea level yesterday, about 35cm below its first official flood warning level.
The submerged Wanaka jetty was proving a popular playground for a group of children on a sunny afternoon yesterday, as they took turns walking on the structure and out into the flooded lake.
• Lake Hawea remains just under its maximum statutory prescribed level of 346m above sea level as Contact Energy controls the amount of water released through its control gates and down the Hawea River.
The level of Lake Hawea was 345.16m at 3pm yesterday, as the lake level began to plateau through the weekend.
The flow down the Hawea River was increased by Contact Energy to 14.5cumecs yesterday.
The increased flow contributed to a first flooding alert warning at the swollen confluence of the Clutha and Cardrona Rivers.
Rivers across Queenstown Lakes are running full and fast as they discharge floodwaters from the district's main lakes, Wakatipu, Wanaka, and Hawea.
As lake levels peaked on Saturday, Central Otago rivers have been left to bear the brunt of coping with floodwaters brought on by last week's rain.
A first flooding alert level for the upper Clutha River's confluence with the Hawea and Cardrona Rivers has been ongoing since Saturday, when river flows peaked at just above 700cumecs.
The upper stretch of the Clutha River's first flood alert level is at 600cumecs and flow levels yesterday were steady at around 650cumecs as water began to drain from Lakes Wanaka and Hawea.
The Kawarau River, the main release for Lake Wakatipu, was running at 631cumecs yesterday.
The Kawarau River peaked at a flow of about 725cumecs on Saturday morning and has since eased when rain in the Wakatipu catchment area stopped.
ORC environmental engineering and natural hazards director Gavin Palmer said council staff remained in a state of "preparedness" and would monitor river flows as the level of lakes in the district dropped below their flood warning levels.
The release of more than a week's worth of extended rainfall down through the Clutha River has been felt at Balclutha, where river flows of 1301.8cumecs were well above the lower river's first flood warning level of 1140cumecs.
There was no "cause for concern" in regards to the two flood alerts at Balclutha and the upper Clutha, Mr Palmer said.
"The flood alerts are a trigger for us to step up our monitoring of the rivers.
"Obviously, there are high flows down the Clutha, but these are now dropping," he said.
