Floodwaters have "scoured" rural roads across Otago, as the region struggles to cope with the aftermath of the worst flooding in decades.

Snow forecast for later this week will be just the icing on the cake for Wanaka skifields.

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.

After flooding in the Bay of Plenty, Auckland and Hamilton, Nelson has become the latest region to be hit by the wild weekend weather.

The changing climate will increase security threats to Australia, including the possible collapse of fragile states in the region and resource wars, a new report has warned.

It was not a pleasant sight: as the city's ageing sewerage system failed to cope, streets filled with murky grey water that smelled and looked as if it was heavily polluted with raw sewage.

Australian residents are being urged to beware of crocodiles as the flooded Fitzroy River in Rockhampton recedes after peaking at a less than expected 8.6 metres.

A Kiwi is one of six people to die in the Queensland floods. He was being swept off his motorcycle at an intersection in the Brisbane suburb of Greenbank.

An 82-year-old former Masterton resident has been located by Interpol after his family feared he was lost in the Queensland floods.

With towns still isolated, thousands displaced and emergency supplies struggling to get through as stocks run short, Australia is again counting the cost of massive flooding.

A Northland man who had been repairing Queensland roads damaged in floods in 2010 and 2011 has been stranded in Bundaberg as a result of ex-cyclone Oswald.

A Kiwi family managed to escape just minutes before the boat they were in - their home - was swept down a raging river in Queensland.

Anne Bolland wept yesterday as swirling brown floodwaters advanced on her home in the low-lying Brisbane suburb of Milton.