More than 1400 forced to flee homes from floods

9.30pm

UPDATED REPORT - Storm battered Manawatu and Rangitikei continued to struggle in the grip of floods and raging rivers tonight as Cabinet approved financial relief to the two worst hit regions.

Civil defence emergencies were still in place there and in Wanganui, following the spectacular storm that has forced more than 1400 evacuations in the lower North Island.

A 35-year-old man died after he went fishing alone on Saturday night off Eastbourne in Lower Hutt, his body being recovered this morning.

None of the 300 residents of Tangimoana village, near the mouth of the Rangitikei River, 23km southwest of Bulls, will be able to return until tomorrow after being evacuated this morning.

"They are still at a recreation centre in Rongotea," Manawatu District Council spokesman Bob Williams told NZPA tonight.

Parts of Marton, Feilding and the Hutt Valley were also evacuated, with power and telecommunications outages, while a state of emergency was in place in Wanganui.

Feilding was today "virtually cut off" due to road flooding and bridges being washed out, but the main concern was the town's dwindling water supply.

"We have almost no water in Feilding -- two pipeline supplies have been washed away, some residents' supplies have already been cut, and the rest should restrict usage to drinking and cooking."

Feilding had no ability to produce water and the town's reservoir supply would run out tomorrow.

"Tankered water will be brought in so Feilding residents can fill up their containers, and we are trucking in about 5000 bottles of water to be distributed to residents."

About 150 people had been evacuated from streets in Feilding and were being accommodated at Manfeild Park tonight.

Feilding schools and kindergartens would be closed again tomorrow, for health reasons, Mr Williams said.

In Marton and Wanganui, the air force plucked several people, including a pregnant woman, to safety from rooftops in flooded areas today, with a total of 180 evacuations in Marton.

There were 150 evacuations in Hunterville, also in the Rangitikei district.

In south Taranaki, the township of Waitotara had "self-evacuated", the Ministry of Civil Defence's national emergency operations centre said in a statement.

Three rural properties were evacuated in the Wairarapa area of Mauriceville, and five houses evacuated in South Wairarapa.

In central Hawke's Bay, there was loss of power and water in Porangahau.

The Horowhenua district was also feeling the pressure tonight.

Residents of the rural community at Opiki, on the south bank of the Manawatu River, 18km southwest of Palmerston North, were desperately filling sand bags to stop the raging river erupting on to farmland.

"Our community of 40-50 people have been grabbing whatever they can -- bags from farmers' sheds and things -- and filling them with dirt," Federated Farmers Manawatu-Rangitikei president Shelley Dew-Hopkins told NZPA.

"I've been here for 18 years and I've never seen the river so high.

"I've seen an old shed floating by, dead stock, trees and all sorts of things."

A group of soldiers from the Linton army base near Palmerston North had been called in to help residents fortify the bank tonight.

Civil Defence Minister George Hawkins today announced the grants of $20,000 each to the Manawatu and Rangitikei mayoral relief funds, and said they would boost efforts by police, volunteers, firefighters and councils.

Energy company NGC Holdings said in a statement today its gas supply to the Ashhurst area, northeast of Palmerston North, had been disrupted by floodwaters.

A high pressure pipeline attached to a bridge was left suspended in the strong-flowing Pohangina River but NGC said it had turned off the gas supply.

Meanwhile, easing of severe weather conditions in Cook Strait enabled resumption of the Interislander ferry sailings today.

All sailings of the Lynx fast ferry remained cancelled until tomorrow, spokesman Peter Monk said in a statement.

Staff would work hard to clear a backlog of passengers and freight, he said.

The body of the 35-year-old Petone man was found below the sea wall of Days Bay at Eastbourne in Lower Hutt at 10am today, police said.

The man was reported missing after he went fishing alone in a 2.4m plywood dinghy on Saturday night in bad weather that hit the Hutt Valley.

Lower Hutt police said his name would be released when family had been notified. A post-mortem examination was to be carried out tomorrow.

The Maritime Safety Authority and the National Rescue Co-ordination Centre (NRCC) agreed tonight to suspend the search for a sailor missing after the vessel Rita sank near Cape Jackson in the Marlborough Sounds last night.

A search of 480sq km by five surface vessels, two helicopters and an airforce Orion failed to find Keith Bailey, 53, of Stewart Island.

The 3.5m plastic dinghy that Mr Bailey was in after the Rita was abandoned was found by the Orion at 10.20am today, but an NRCC statement said the chances of his survival in the sea were now considered to be remote.

Federated Farmers said tonight they were not given enough warning of the storm.

National board member Hugh Ritchie said his farm, near Waipukurau in central Hawke's Bay, was soaked.

"We had 190mm in under 24 hours -- and not even a heavy rain warning," he said in a statement.

"We are supposed to get a heavy rain warning ahead of 4 inches (10cm) of rain in 24 hours. Why didn't we get one?"

Farmers had got a long-range weather forecast through the media last month saying there would be no rain until March.

"It hasn't stopped raining since," Mr Ritchie said.

He said the "poor forecasting" could end up costing farmers and the New Zealand economy many millions of dollars.

MetService spokesman Bob McDavitt said more unsettled weather was likely later this week.

Cold air was expected to bring vigorous westerly winds over New Zealand, with periods of heavy rain possible by Thursday on the Southern Alps and severe gales for Wellington and in the east from southern Hawke's Bay to Otago.

Dr McDavitt tonight described the latest storm as extreme and most unseasonable.

"During Sunday night, a burst of cold air from the Antarctic ice shelf came north, while moist air from a weak tropical low came south.

"These two ingredients were able to mix together over the North Island and bring wind and rain on a scale that is only seen about once every 10 years," he said in a statement.

Storm force winds lasted for 29 hours in Cook Strait and a peak gust of 167km/h was measured at Beacon Hill in the Wellington suburb of Seatoun this morning.

Winds over 100km/h affected Wanganui and Castlepoint in Wairarapa, and gusts to around 100km/h hit Auckland and Kaikoura last night.

Around 20,000 homes in the lower North Island were affected by power cuts tonight, power lines company PowerCo said.

The Government Communications Security Bureau, which operates a high frequency radio interception and direction-finding station at Tangimoana, told NZPA tonight that some staff members had been advised to stay away during the flood danger.

However, it could not be confirmed how many staff were still working at the station.

- NZPA