The storm has finally cleared through Arthurs Pass leaving a fresh dusting of snow on the Waimakariri River. Photog / George Heard
Christchurch residents are mopping up after rain caused what some locals called the worst flooding they've seen.
A band of rain between Monday night and Tuesday night plunged Canterbury into the wettest July on record, with a third of the annual rain falling in a month.
The MetService has recorded 268mm of rain in Christchurch for the month so far. The previous record was 199mm in 1978.
Christchurch normally averages 60mm for July and has had four months of rain in 27 days.
A number of slips on Banks Peninsula are blocking roads into many of the bays.
Stony Bay Rd was blocked when trees and mud came crashing down onto the road.
Okains Bay Rd and Pipers Valley Rd are closed by slips.
In Christchurch, on the bank of the Ōpāwaho Heathcote River in Hoon Hay, Hamish Kingsbury said yesterday was the worst flood he'd ever seen on his street.
"I grew up four houses down so I knew what I was in for when I bought this place, and it always floods, but this is definitely the worst I've seen," he said.
Kingsbury counts himself lucky to escape flooding with a house raised several metres, but others on his street had to mop up drenched carpets and muddy yards.
"Our neighbours back onto the river and they have had it pretty high previously. I popped over this afternoon to have a look and it was probably 30cm off getting into their house."
Monika Cassidy had similar scenes at her house on Francis Ave, just north of the city centre.
But with cars frequently passing through, the risk of her house flooding is heightened - and she wants the council to recognise that.
"When the street isn't closed, cars carry on driving, which sends big waves to the houses that are lower to the ground."
Frustrated by the council's lack of urgency, her neighbours parked a truck across the road to block access.
Edgeware resident Greg Hughey was surprised to make it home after driving his truck down the middle New Brighton Rd, with metre-high pools of water on both sides.
"I was concerned I was going to get stuck. I went down to five kilometres an hour, and with oncoming traffic, people were also crawling through the water. It was up the door on the truck."
The Ōtakaro Avon burst its banks in sections shortly afterwards, worsening flooding across the central city.
Further south at Waimea Terrace, the Ōpāwaho Heathcote River also burst its banks, leaving residents trapped for the third time in three weeks.
Rather than staying indoors and wait for floodwaters to creep up, Amy Whiting decided to embrace the rain and walk her border collie along the street - but it eventually became too deep.
"There was places that were completely uncrossable, so definitely ankle-deep for where you could walk, but it would be over the gumboots on the normal paths."
Amy Whiting said she would be back out again today, despite even more rain being forecast for the city.
- Additional reporting RNZ
A front-end loader slammed into a Martinborough café as the driver attempted to rob an ATM. Video / TVNZ