Wouldn't it be nice to know that your kids can swim? Even being able to dog paddle would do, because drowning often takes only a few seconds.

Police searching for a missing Roxburgh man have found a body in the Clutha River.

A 52-year-old man who drowned at Muriwai Beach west of Auckland last night paid the ultimate price for not heeding the warning signs at the notoriously dangerous swimming spot.

Grave fears are held for a man believed to have fallen into the Clutha River in central Otago this afternoon.

Flooding is continuing in the Samoan capital today, after heavy rainfall from the threat of Cyclone Wilma in the past week.

NZers denied funding after being caught up in the devastating Queensland floods are to be granted a special Govt payout. Many Kiwis had complained of being ineligible for an Australian govt disaster payout due to a 2001 law change.

A large body of water gradually moving towards the northwest Victorian city of Swan Hill has threatened small communities in its path.

One of the two men plucked from rough surf last night would have survived only minutes longer, says the firefighter who mounted the speedy jetski rescue on the Bay of Plenty coast last night.

DOC staff have killed 10 pilot whales which survived the stranding of a pod of 24 in Parengarenga harbour in the Far North.

Police say they are confident a body found on a lake near Rotorua this morning is that of a missing teenage jetskier.

A Kiwi living in Brisbane described the city as total chaos yesterday as people were evacuated.

'Oh my God, I'm being swept away, come and get me,' was the last thing a NZ woman heard from her son, phoning from floodwaters.

Police and Navy divers are continuing searching into the evening for the body of a teenage boy presumed dead after a jetski accident on a lake near Rotorua, while family and friends continue to hold vigil on the shoreline.

Education not legislation is the answer to improve safety on the water, Maritime NZ safety inspector Jim Lilley says.

Navy divers with sonar equipment will join police tomorrow in the search for a teenage boy presumed dead after a jetski accident near Rotorua.