The rain has stopped falling in flood stricken Otago and Hawkes Bay, but the regions face a big, expensive cleanup and thousands of residents are on emergency water supply.
North Otaki's Waitaki Civil Defence was today assessing 50 rural roads which were closed because of flooding and looking for residents who may be isolated because of the high water and land slips.
Spokeswoman Rowan Carroll said a New Zealand Army Unimog with two personnel had been deployed to deliver food, water and other help to those worst effected. Police and Civil Defence were also delivering aid.
About 1000 residents in Waitaki district were without water because many rural supply schemes had been shut down for fear of contamination by polluted floodwater.
The water supply at Palmerston township had been disrupted affecting supplies to 3500 people.
But the local reservoir still had enough water for three days provided residents conserved water.
The main supply would be restored once the Shag River level dropped.
State Highway 1 has reopened between Dunedin and Oamaru but remains closed between Pukeuri and Hilderthorpe, north of Oamaru. A detour is in place via State Highway 83.
Homes were evacuated and four cars crushed by a building as torrential rain caused havoc across the country yesterday.
Hawke's Bay and Otago were worst hit as stormy weather lashed the lower North Island and the South Island. Parts of Napier were under a metre of water last night and Dunedin was almost isolated by rising floodwaters.
At Berwick Forest, southwest of Dunedin, Red Cross trainees were among 42 people who escaped from the Otago Youth Club Trust camp building moments before a massive landslip pushed it 6m down a hill early yesterday.
The building landed on top of four vehicles.
The campers were woken by Nathan Findlay and his wife Rhonda, who were staying there with daughters Eliza, 12 and Sarah, 10.
Nathan had been woken by his cellphone alarm and suspected "something serious was happening".
"I got them away from the back wall because I just wasn't sure ... then when the building started creaking I sent them up to the main hall."
The couple went to opposite ends of the building and started banging on doors "yelling to wake people up".
"Some of them were quite content with getting dressed first, but it was like, 'no'. As soon as the building started moving all the fire alarms went off and the power went out."
Findlay said there was "lots of screaming and yelling" then "everyone sort of got up and got out".
The couple got out safely - then watched the building slide on to their family car from across the road. "The last person stepped off the steps as it was moving down."
Police around the country received more than 300 calls about crashes between 3pm on Friday and 3pm yesterday, about half more than on a usual day.
Police described Dunedin as "virtually an island", with State Highway One in and out of the city closed for most of the day.
There were three slips in the harbour town of Portobello, one sweeping a glasshouse and shed down Portobello Rd, closing the town's main route to Dunedin.
North of Dunedin, at Big Kuri, the river was flowing over the bridge. No detours were in place.
In Milton, south of Dunedin, water covered the streets. Lake Waihola Holiday Park owner Joanne Coombs moved 15 caravans to high ground before high tide at 5pm. "It's a metre deep, if not more right now. It's like a war zone."
MetService lead forecaster Erick Brenstrum said the rain would ease today, allowing the big clean-up to begin.
Civil Defence said the extent of damage to Otago roads would not be clear for weeks, and it would be months before repairs were completed.
More than 20 roads in Napier were impassable last night, with floodwater a metre deep in places. Rising water threatened houses on Faraday St, and four were evacuated by Civil Defence.
Resident Kerry Elphick escaped the worst of the flooding but said she had not seen weather so wild since moving to the area 40 years ago.
Resident Kathy Kerrisk faced a "nerve-racking" drive home.
"All the lids of the manholes popped up with all the strong water. We had to swerve around one to avoid it.
"There was water bubbling out of them and the road was like a stream."
The MetService estimated up to 30mm of rain was falling every hour in the area.
A structural engineer was today assessing the condition of five houses in Napier after a major slip forced the evacuation of the residents yesterday. They spent last night in alternative accommodation.
- with NZPA
Relief as rains finally ease up
A building slipped and crushed cars at the Otago Youth Adventure Trust in the Berwick Forrest, Dunedin. Photo / Gerard Johnson
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