A state of emergency has been declared for the Selwyn district in Canterbury, as the country gets hammered with severe weather.
Houses in the small town of Doyleston have been struggling to stay afloat, battling flooding and continuous rainfall.
The town of a few hundred people is part of the Selwyn District.
Resident Scott Rushton said the situation was the worst he had seen in the past decade.
"It's the worst I've ever seen, I've been here ten years but Nick in the house here, he's been here all his life, he's never seen it like this before," Rushton said.
"The two houses down the back are totally flooded out.
"It's coming from the high-end, so it just gets coming down heading towards the lake."
The drains which give Drain Road - which runs through the settlement - its name still have not broken their banks, but the floodwaters are causing issues for residents on Leeston Road.
Scott Rushton. Photo: RNZ/Nathan Mckinnon
Rushton said he turned around on his way to work on Thursday morning after realising how bad the flooding was and he had been helping with efforts to protect homes from the floodwaters since.
"Sand-bagging, seed-bagging, whatever we can get our hands on," Rushton said.
"The local company Cridge Seeds have been good enough to let us use their second-seed early on this morning before we could get our hands on sand which has certainly helped.
"They've done about two-and-a-half tonne of second-seed, which is probably $20,000 worth, so just getting it out, bagging up driveways to stop it coming in until some locals were able to get some sand."
Cars were causing bow waves to flood into people's properties, Rushton said.
"We're trying to keep as many vehicles off the road as we can," he said.
"If you don't have to be out, don't be out - it's pretty simple."
Doyleston resident Robyn Hansen. Photo: RNZ/Nathan Mckinnon
Doyleston resident Robyn Hansen said her neighbours had sandbagged the vents under her home to prevent floodwater rising through the floorboards.
Some houses had been flooded in the small Selwyn District town as rain continues to pour in Canterbury.
Hansen said when she went to bed last night, there was no sign of the problems she woke to.
"Got up this morning at half past five and opened the curtains and... no front lawn, nothing. You could see the water going over the road," she said.
"I've been here 32, 33 years and this is the worst I've ever seen it.
"The Fire Brigade arrived, they were quite early, and they were stopping the traffic, only one lot going through at a time so that we didn't get the waves... and then they had to leave because they said the council was coming. I haven't seen them yet."
The floodwater has been rising throughout the morning.
"It's quite bad. It's going under my house - it's flowing under, so they've all just sandbagged it for me which is nice," Hansen said.
"It's just the neighbours. It's not the council or anybody, it's actually our neighbours, so that's wonderful. So I thanked them and I just hope it stops raining soon."
Scenes from Doyleston which is on the way from Christchurch to Southbridge and Leeston. Photo: RNZ / Nathan Mckinnon
She was hopeful the council would arrive to start pumping water out of the settlement soon.
The water had not entered her home yet, Hansen said.
"It's underneath, that's why they've sandbagged all my vents to stop it coming up through the floorboards - hopefully, fingers crossed," she says.
"I know there's ones up the back are bad, they're flooding, so it's not great.
"I'm just worried, extremely worried. I'm very, very worried about my home and family and all my neighbours, but they've been marvellous coming out and doing all this. So we're very luck that we're so small and everybody cares about each other."
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