15 hours ago
Otago Regional Council closely monitoring rising rivers as heavy rain is yet to peak
It comes amid flooding in other parts of the South Island, including Motueka.
Photo:
RNZ / Samantha Gee
Otago Regional Council is closely monitoring rising rivers that are yet to peak in North Otago, Dunedin and Clutha.
An orange heavy rain warning was in place for Dunedin and Clutha until 9pm on Saturday night.
ORC flood duty officer Ann Conroy said the council was keeping an eye on parts of the Tokomairaro floodplain such as Milton, the Lower Taieri floodplain including Henley, the Lower Clutha floodplain and Middlemarch.
"Flood infrastructure is doing its job and performing as expected. There were no significant issues overnight and surface flooding and ponding are likely in lower lying areas.
"We are ready to respond to any issues that arise will continue to closely monitor river levels," she said.
Dunedin's Water of Leith and Lindsay Creek were not expected to top their banks.
The council said coastal Dunedin bore the brunt of rainfall overnight - approximately 25-50mm, with other parts of Otago getting 20-50mm.
Rainfall had eased in North Otago but Dunedin could see a further 20-30mm and 30-40mm for Clutha, it said.
The Silver Stream near Mosgiel was expected to peak at about 90-100 cumecs on Saturday afternoon and the Taieri River at Outram at about 400-600 cumecs in the evening.
Flooding of unprotected areas downstream of Outram was likely.
The Clutha River at Balclutha was expected to peak at around 1900 cumecs on Sunday morning.
Flooding was likely in low-lying areas next to the river upstream of Balclutha and unprotected areas downstream of the township on the Clutha delta.
A heavy snow watch was also in place for Central Otago, Southland north of Lumsden, inland Dunedin and Clutha until 7pm on Saturday night.
It's snowy down in Central Otago.
Photo:
Supplied/ Cath Gilmo
A number of roads in the Clutha district were closed because of flooding.
The council said crews were placing signs in the worst-affected areas but conditions could change quickly and deteriorate before they reached them.
There was surface flooding in a number of areas around Clutha, particularly Milton.
Dunedin City Council spokesman Scott MacLean said there were some road closures in Dunedin, but the network coped well with heavy rain overnight.
"Contractors responded to isolated incidents of ponding overnight. Our teams are inspecting the network for damage and flooding, and there are some temporary road closures in place."
Meanwhile, Metservice said about 40mm of rain had fallen in Dunedin city and surrounding areas in the past 12 hours.
Meteorologist Devlin Lynden said while it's not quite the totals seen in the Tasman District, there'll be some swollen gutters and potentially surface flooding in flat areas such as Mosgiel and South Dunedin.
He said the Central Otago hills have also received a dusting of snow, while the skifields around Wanaka and Queenstown got a dumping of about 20-30cm.
The wet weather was expected to clear on Sunday ahead of another cold front moving in overnight, Lynden said.
Laura Hedley, chief mountains officer for Cardrona and Treble Cone, said it's been an "incredible morning in the snow" for Treble Cone's opening day.
Other skifields in the area opened earlier this month.
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