The truck is blocking both lanes at the Tekapo flyover/Tekapo Canal Road intersection. Photo: NZTA/Supplied
A rough night lies ahead as further rain looms for many rainsoaked areas in the South Island, strong winds continue and the orange warnings sweep up to the top of the South Island and into the North Island, from Monday into Tuesday.
Authorities have issued precautions that the storm could cause waterways to rise rapidly, or trigger slips and surface flooding, and advised people to tie down loose items, clear gutters, take extra caution on the roads and stay up to date on changing conditions.
Going into Monday evening, much of the South Island remained under orange strong wind or heavy rain warnings, or wind watches, as an active front moved up the country.
Strong wind warnings were issued for the south and east of the North Island, from Wellington and Wairarapa up to Tararua and Hawke's Bay, and a heavy rain warning for up to 130mm rain was in place for the Tararua Range.
Strong winds have already downed trees, caused power outages, road closures, flight cancellations and ripped roofing iron off properties.
Forecasters said up to 300 millimetres of rain could hit the Westland ranges near the glaciers between 9am on Monday and 6am on Tuesday. And by 5pm Monday that was updated to say 200mm could still fall on top of what had arrived already.
Parts of Grey, Buller and Tasman districts were expected to remain under a orange heavy rain warning until 1pm on Tuesday, with up to 140mm expected to fall. Warnings also extended across Otago, Canterbury and Marlborough.
West Coast Emergency Management manager Claire Brown said they were taking a precautionary approach, especially with more heavy rain forecast on Thursday.
"Our concern is that we've obviously already had quite a bit rain over the last couple of days so the region is pretty saturated as it is, so the ability to soak up a lot more is limited as we continue to get that rain over the week," she said.
Speaking late Monday afternoon, with Westland already halfway through its warning period, Brown she said they were still expecting a lot of rain overnight into Tuesday.
"We're keeping a very close eye on the river levels across the Westland district. At this point, we don't have immediate cause for concern, but we'll obviously have eyes on that overnight as well," she said.
They were taking the forecasts "very seriously" and had an agency briefing to keep on top of the latest updates and to be prepared, Brown said.
The rain was expected to ease off a bit on Wednesday, before starting up again from Thursday, she said.
Brown said people in the area should check MetService and the Transport Agency for updates.
Power had been mostly restored in Otago and Southland by early Monday evening, after more than 900 people in Dunedin and Mosgiel were cut off at one stage.
More heavy rain has been forecasted later in the week.
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