Floodwaters that trapped four people in an East Cape house have receded.

River engineers were at Franz Josef Glacier, as authorities consider whether the swathe of land just outside the town can be made safe again.

Nearly 200 people have been evacuated overnight throughout the South Island as rivers breached banks and flooded homes, hotels and holiday parks.

Families in Britain still reeling from the Xmas floods have been told to expect more flooding as the tail of American killer storm Jonas hits Britain.

Southern US states along the Mississippi River are bracing for the flooding that caused thousands of evacuations and killed at least 31 people.

With further rain looming, more families have abandoned their homes in Paraguay as the country hardest hit by the worst flooding in decades.

Floods in Britain which forced 1000's to flee their houses over Xmas will return as Government admitted that every defence will need to be reviewed.

Britain has been overwhelmed by the most widespread flooding for decades after a month's rain fell in a single day.

Wild weather lashing the central North Island created havoc yesterday with torrential rain causing slips, overnight road closures and rapidly rising rivers.

Sophie Langston and her partner, Simon Thomas, weren't looking forward to their drive back to Auckland after a family funeral in Whanganui.

It's takes more than the worst recorded flood in Whanganui history to put Riverside Bar regulars off a night at their favourite watering hole.

While the floods that swamped Whanganui appeared devastating enough from aerial pictures, the view from space has offered another perspective altogether.

Between 20 and 25 families remain stranded on their South Taranaki farms, while many roads remain closed throughout flood damaged areas.

Three days after the floods hit Whanganui, there's no word yet on when residents evacuated from their houses can return.

Red Cross is launching an appeal to help those affected by the weekend's floods - a disaster the organisation has labelled the worst to strike New Zealand since the Canterbury earthquakes.

The state of emergency has remained in place for Whanganui and Taranaki three days after flooding caused evacuations, slips, road closures and power cuts.

A Taranaki grandmother says she was shoved to the ground and handcuffed by police after she objected to being evacuated due to flooding.

It was a paramedic's "horror story" - trying to get a woman apparently in labour to hospital in the middle of a flood.

Flooding caused road and bridge closures, cut power to homes and forced people to spend night in emergency accommodation or with friends and family.

More than 400 people were evacuated from flood-hit homes in lower North Island towns across Taranaki, Horowhenua, Manawatu, Rangitikei and Whanganui over the weekend.

The Whanganui River has burst its banks, and the public are being warned to stay away from the river.

Heavy rain has kept Hokitika residents awake through the night with serious flooding causing many people, including 20 retirement home residents, to be evacuated.

A young Dunedin family has been left with nowhere to go after being told to leave their flood-damaged property.

With one of her 7 children due to have brain surgery, the last thing Natasha needs to worry about this week is looking for somewhere to live.

Firefighters and police were responding to reports of surface flooding in and around Levin last night, just a day after a disastrous deluge in Wellington.

The deaths of five people have served as a tragic reminder of the danger of crossing flooded roads as Queensland was battered by storms.

A fifth person has died as a result of an extreme downpour and flash flooding in southeast Queensland.

Two flood-damaged police cars were written off in one year, with more than $71,991 being spent on repairing vehicles in the Northland police fleet.

Flooding is causing problems throughout Wellington this morning, with the Fire Service called to 30 incidents of flooding in the last two hours.