Travellers are being urged to avoid the east coast of the Coromandel as heavy rain has brought flooding to many coastal communities, police say.

A winter storm is causing serious flooding in southern England. Thousands of people are without power on Christmas Day. Some roads are also closed due to flooding. Two dozen motorists were rescued from their vehicles overnight.

A brief deluge yesterday had central Dunedin on standby again as the mop-up continues from a storm on Monday that overwhelmed the city's stormwater system.

A flash storm that dropped hail stones the size of golf balls caught residents near Ashburton off guard last night.

Parts of Dunedin were flooded late yesterday afternoon when a thunderstorm struck, causing havoc for some central-city businesses.

The cost of extreme weather events in New Zealand this year is likely to top $100 million, the Insurance Council says.

Flooding has forced two more blocks of Wanganui residents from their homes, as the city deals with a state of emergency from a swollen Whanganui River.

Rescuers rushed by land and by air to evacuate Colorado residents stranded by epic mountain flooding as debris-filled rivers became muddy seas.

As people came down from the flooded foothills of the Colorado Rockies, they brought tales of dramatic rescues and heartbreaking loss.

Following on from the flooding in Europe, India and Canada are now both suffering from the loss of life and property.

Civil Defence and emergency services have urged New Zealanders to prepare for the worst as a ferocious polar blast bears down on the country.

MetService's website is back online after it went down due to a "hardware failure" yesterday.

There will be a brief reprieve today for towns cleaning up from yesterday's floods as they prepare for the threat of "blizzard conditions" later this week.

Snow could reach as far north as Coromandel and the Kaimai Ranges later this week as a huge winter storm looks set to batter the country.

Another slip caused a home to be evacuated early this morning in the Tasman district, just 12 hours after a woman was killed in her house by a landslide.

Police have released the name of the woman who died when a landslide engulfed her home near Kaiteriteri yesterday afternoon.

A "cold snap" later this week would bring "rain with snow to basically sea level for eastern areas of the South Island and low levels about Wellington and the North Island's east coast plus central areas to boot," said WeatherWatch.co.nz.

Residents were evacuated from their Titirangi Beach home after a landslide took a tree through the roof during a busy afternoon yesterday for emergency services.

Rescue crews believe they heard cries for help from a woman trapped in her home after it was destroyed by a landslip in the Tasman region this afternoon.

The Czech capital Prague declared a state of emergency as the worst flooding for more than a decade tore into the city, threatening to engulf the streets of its historic heart.

Sajeev Puthussery first heard a bubbling sound and then saw water trickling through the door.