People living around Dunns Ave, in particular, must leave their homes. A flood gate is stuck open and it is feared areas of the settlement may be flooded.
Kairaki, the neighbouring beach settlement near the north bank of the Waimakariri River, has already been evacuated.
Residents on the higher sections of The Pines Beach can stay if they wish, Civil Defence says, but warns they may become isolated for some time if Beach Road, from Kaiapoi, floods.
Some Pines Beach residents took to social media to express their concerns about the situation.
"Oh my gosh, my family's old home is down Dunns Ave, I hope the new owners will be ok," said one post.
"Pines beach is being evacuated currently. Ashley is expected to flood. Amberley is having flooding issues. And the Waimak is very high currently also. The flow is dropping but still very high in the gorge. I'm not even going to mention attempting travelling South thats just a big fat NO too," said another post.
The Civil Defence Centre at the Rangiora Baptist Church is open for people who need somewhere to stay. The North South Holiday Park on Sawyers Arms Rd in Harewood has also set aside some rooms for those who have been evacuated for the next few nights free of charge.
Updates are being given out on the Waimakariri District Council’s Facebook page, including when it is safe to return. which is not expected to be for sometime.
Emergency services are helping with the evacuation.
Waimakariri Civil Defence is urging residents to take extreme care on the roads and to keep up to date with flooding information throughout the day.
‘‘While the rain may be lighter, river levels remain dangerously elevated and it will take some time until the risk is gone.
‘‘If all possible, residents are asked to stay off the roads and avoid travelling. If people do need to drive, they should take it slow and leave plenty of following distance between vehicles. People should avoid driving through flooded areas and in the immediate vicinity of rivers.
`` If evacuations are required, an Emergency Mobile Alert will be sent to the affected areas and emergency services will be deployed. Residents should keep their mobile phones switched on and close to hand,'' a Civil Defence spokesman says.
The river risk led to two areas being evacuated late last night and early this morning by emergency services. Fire and Emergency New Zealand (FENZ) crews evacuated approximately 113 properties in the Oxford and Mount Thomas Road area near the Ashley River. Due to the high river level, it may be some time until
residents are able to return home.
A further 133 properties were evacuated in the Eyre River area overnight, however with river levels dropping, residents in this area are now returning home.
The entire Canterbury region is now under a state of emergency and around 75 schools and pre-schools are closed on Monday as residents prepare for more upheaval.
About 700 people from 300 properties in the Waimakariri and Selwyn districts were evacuated as a precaution overnight if rivers in those areas were to break the flood blanks.
Mandeville Sports Centre, near Swannanoa, opened up as a Civil Defence post and refuge location about 7pm yesterday.
Centre manager Richard Belcher said about 20-30 people without access to their homes had congregated at the centre north of Christchurch, some opting to rest in their cars or campervans.
This morning the Selwyn River has breached its banks.
Residents on the higher sections of The Pines Beach can stay if they wish, but may be isolated for some time if Beach Road floods.
The council will give updates on its Facebook page and website when it is safe to return, however it may be some time.
Acting Minister for Emergency Management Kris Faafoi told the AM Show Faafoi said it was vey unlikely people would be allowed back home today and "it would be some time" before the authorities gave an all clear on what the rivers were going to do.
Environment Canterbury estimated between 250-400mm of rain had been recorded across the Upper Opihi, Waihi, Kakahu and Geraldine areas.
Ashburton mayor Neil Brown said some locals had already started to evacuate overnight as rising river levels continued.
Authorities went out at first light to assess the damage.
"The rain is actually easing at the moment. But it has been heavy rain right throughout the night," Brown said.
"We do have key messages for the communities - that is stay home, stay safe."
Schools would also remain closed until further notice.
Firefighters respond to water rescues, weather-related callouts
Southern fire communications shift manager Simon Lyford said they had helped police with "a couple" of water rescues overnight, as well as helping police and Civil Defence teams with precautionary evacuations.
Other than those events, Lyford said Fire and Emergency NZ teams had been called to about 20 weather-related incidents in the region overnight.
Those incidents included reports of water leaking through house roofs and water entering properties.
There are currently ten state highway closures in place throughout Canterbury, Waka Kotahi said.
Canterbury residents can text the name of most local rivers (eg. RAKAIA, ASHBURTON, HINDS) to 3730 to receive free and official flood updates, including evacuation notices, from Environment Canterbury.
Two people have had a lucky rescue after their car became stuck in flood water in Canterbury.
Fire crews were called to the incident on Highfield St in Dunsandel at about 6.15am.
A Fire and Emergency NZ spokesman says the car was a rental and the pair were heading towards the airport.
They tried to avoid the water by driving around it but became stuck.
Crews were able to free the vehicle and nobody was injured, the spokesman said.
The crew of a Royal New Zealand Air Force NH90 helicopter rescued three people from floods in the Ashburton area overnight.
One man was rescued from a tree surrounded by floodwater in the vicinity of Darfield and an elderly couple were rescued from the roof of a car near Ashburton Forks.
Red warning extended to 3pm
The MetService has officially extended the rare Red Warning for heavy rain for Canterbury.
The warning - which affects Canterbury south of Amberley - was initially due to lift at 11am today.
Locals are being told that a further 80mm to 100mm of rain is expected about the Canterbury High Country and foothills - bringing the rainfall totals for this area to above 400mm in some inland areas for the entire event, MetService said.
A further 30mm to 50mm of rain is also forecast on top of what has already fallen further east about the Plains and coast.
Peak hourly rainfall rates of 10mm to 15mm per hour are on the cards about the High Country and foothills.
"The rain is expected to cause dangerous river conditions and significant flooding."
Again, locals were warned that such conditions could result in more roads being impassable and communities being isolated.
On Sunday evening, Waimakariri District Council ordered residents living near sections of the Eyre and Ashley rivers to leave their homes. Stopbanks on the two flooded rivers were at risk of failing or expected to give way.
The evacuation order affects 133 properties near the Eyre River and 102 along the Ashley River. Eight households at Kairaki are also being evacuated.
Fire and Emergency personnel were assisting with the evacuations. Affected residents were told to stay away from the rivers and surrounding areas until further notice.
This morning some residents evacuated in Waimakariri have been given the all-clear to go home.
The District Council says they're now safe to go home, as the nearby river levels dropping.
And as the Ashburton River rose to dangerous levels, officials warned that up to 4000 people and thousands of homes were at risk if it breached stopbanks.
Sandbagging was under way and the military had been brought in to assist should large scale evacuations be required.
The torrential rain is set to continue until later Monday - and many areas are planning for further evacuations, particularly near the Ashburton River which is nearing capacity.
Canterbury Civil Defence Emergency Management group controller Neville Reilly said officials were "just holding our breath overnight".
"Everything is holding reasonably well but we just can't afford to take chances. There's a lot of contingency planning going on so that if something untoward should happen we are in a position to get people out and give them somewhere to go."
Evacuations, rescues
Canterbury residents are waking to a region-wide state of emergency today after torrential rain caused rivers to burst their banks and forced mass evacuations in what is being labelled a one-in-100-year event.
Heavy rain flooded the region yesterday, closing roads, sparking dramatic helicopter rescues and sending Civil Defence scrambling to set up emergency welfare shelters.
And, despite parts of the region being already drenched by up to 300mm of rain, MetService warned that more bad weather was on the way and the situation could get worse before it got better.
Eight residents were evacuated last night from Geraldine retirement village, and six people tending stock were airlifted to safety yesterday afternoon after being trapped by rising floodwaters at Okuku in North Canterbury.
Ashburton, Selwyn and Timaru all declared states of emergency yesterday before a region-wide state of emergency was declared by Canterbury Civil Defence just before 5pm.
The Timaru District Council has just announced a district-wide conserve water notice for all district water supplies as staff monitored the situation.
Emergency services had been bracing for the extreme weather, with forecasters predicting "red alert" rain conditions since Friday.
A Fire and Emergency spokesperson said last night their southern communication centre had dealt with around 100 flood-related callouts in the past 12 hours.
"That includes people with water coming into their homes and people needing to be rescued from floodwater, as well as things like power lines brought down by trees."
St John Canterbury district operations manager Curt Ward said staff had established an emergency operations centre in Christchurch and sent additional resources and specialist team members to the area to assist.
The state of emergency for the Ashburton District has been declared for seven days.
- Robyn Brostow, NZ Herald, Star News
