A bomb that forced the evacuation of more than 100 people from their homes sat in its owner's underwear drawer for three years before he decided to get rid of it.

Barely a day after the end of a Queen's Birthday weekend with the lowest road toll in 54 years, two people - one a 3-year-old boy - died in separate crashes.

A child has been killed in a bus crash near the Northland town of Kaeo and another person has died after a crash in Canterbury late today.

A Rotorua man is alive today only because a stranger kicked down the door of his burning home and dragged him to safety.

Five police officers have been charged with drink-driving in the past 12 months - including a senior constable working in an Auckland serious crash unit.

A school mini-van driver remains in hospital after being injured in an accident on a wet road in the Waikato today.

Flood waters in Canterbury and Otago have begun to recede as heavy rain eases, but there's no respite with snow forecast for tonight.

Emergency and Civil Defence teams were gearing up last night for a weather beating expected to hit within hours.

Police have named one of two young boys killed in separate crashes within minutes of each other late yesterday afternoon.

"This policy can only ever be seen as some sort of cost-cutting measure at the expense of the public," says the Firefighters Union.