Westport has been cut off by heavy rain and parts of the town are braced for evacuation.
A week after the last flooding in the Buller region, 160 millimetres of rain overnight rain has caught locals by surprise. The level of the Buller River is reaching worrying levels.
There has already been self-evacuations in some small neighbouring communities but Buller District mayor Jamie Cleine told Corin Dann he won't rule out a repeat of the significant evacuations forced on Westport last July.
