KEY POINTS:
Police have warned motorists in the lower North Island to take extreme care amid rising floodwaters that have prompted road closures and threatened vehicles.
More wild weather is predicted throughout the day after lightning, torrential rain and high winds - rocked New Zealand over the weekend.
In Lower Hutt, Police Sergeant Marc Clausen said parts of Block Road - between State Highway Two and Pharazyn Street - had been closed and Harcourt Werry Drive also looked set to shut.
He asked owners of cars in the city's Riverbank carpark to move their cars as the Hutt River was in flood.
"Due to the Hutt River now flooding, the carpark is going to be under water very shortly. Owners are asked to move their cars as soon as possible," he said.
Meanwhile, Civil Defence officials in North Canterbury and the West Coast are monitoring river levels swollen by days of heavy rain.
People living near the Waiau River in North Canterbury were warned yesterday they may have to leave their homes but the water level had receded by this morning.
However, on the West Coast, police received reports the Buller River was rising rapidly.
Strong winds rocked the Mackenzie Country in South Canterbury, and wind gusts of up to 160km/h recorded around Mt Cook yesterday. Police warned to motorists to avoid unnecessary travel.
Fierce winds in Mid and South Canterbury disrupted power supplies, toppling irrigators and sent a campervan off the road near Burke Pass.
Further south, in the Queenstown Lakes District, heavy snow blanketed the Crown Range and rain caused slips near Glenorchy and on the Devil's Staircase road.
Queenstown Lakes District Council roading supervisor Michael Scott told the Southland Times a rockfall blocked one lane of the main road between Queenstown and Glenorchy for two hours yesterday morning.
Transit closed State Highway 94 between Te Anau and Milford early today, due to avalanche hazard.
A natural lake formed after massive landslide dammed the Young River in Mount Aspiring National Park more than a week ago remained stable this morning.
Department of Conservation (DOC) staff reported water from the lake was flowing through a natural channel over the top of the dam.
DOC staff, representatives from the local councils and people living downstream were meeting today to discuss the newly-formed lake.
In the North Island, thunder and lightning storms lit up the sky over Wellington, though no one reported any damage from the night of sound and fury.
Metservice forecaster Andy Downs said the threat of bad weather still lurked over central regions of New Zealand.
He warned of winds of up to 120km/h on the Rimutaka Hill Road between Wellington and Masterton, and at other exposed areas around the capital.
Heavy, thundery downpours raised the possibility of flooding in low-lying coastal areas, especially around the Kapiti coast and Taranaki, he said.
Up to 150mm of rain in the Tararua ranges, and up to 100mm in Taranaki, was forecast for today.
Some rising of the rivers in the South Island was not unexpected, he said.
"We have seen about a metre of rain falling on Southern Alps over the last week. This means there'll be a lot of water in the hydrolakes and catchment areas, " he said.
- NZPA
