The storm that swept across much of New Zealand has eased, but parts of Otago still face severe weather - and there's more to come later in the week.
Heavy rain caused surface flooding in Christchurch. Photo: RNZ / Nate McKinnon
Flights were cancelled, hundreds of homes lost power, and roads were closed due to slips, fallen trees and flooding across the country on Tuesday.
Heavy rain warnings were still place for North Otago, Dunedin and coastal Clutha were in line for more rain, and strong winds were forecast for Christchurch including Banks Peninsula.
"A low pressure that brought all that rainfall and wind is just moving down towards the south and the east, so we've still got strong winds to watch out for and some heavy rain," MetService meteorologist John Law told Morning Report.
In the North Island, strong north-westerly winds were forecast in Hawke's Bay and Wairarapa, and could reach severe gales in parts of Whanganui, Manawatu, Kāpiti-Horowhenua, Wellington and Marlborough.
A number of highways are still closed around the country due to slips, flooding or snow.
Find the latest road closures here
State Highway 25 was shut between Wharekaho and Kuaotunu in Coromandel because of a large slip, and SH53 in Martinborough was closed at Waihenga Bridge due to flooding.
In the South Island, SH77 Darfield to Rakaia River Bridge was closed because of flooding, SH8 between Fairlie and Twizel and SH8 through the Lindis Pass, between Tarras and Omarama, were closed because of snow.
On the West Coast, SH6 from Ross to Fox Glacier was closed after strong winds down power lines and trees.
Waka Kotahi Canterbury journey manager Tresca Forrester said crews were working all night clearing and gritting roads through Tekapo, Mt Cook and Lindis Pass and those roads should be open today, though drivers should check before they head out on their journey.
In areas that had flooding, particularly Marlborough, the Kaikōura coast, inland Canterbury and mid-Canterbury, crews will still be clearing fallen trees and localised slips, so motorists should expect lots of traffic management.
"We've got a lot of work to do on the network today."
However there was only a brief reprieve for the North Island from the wet weather, with another storm system forecast later this week.
"Another area of low pressure moves in from the north and the west again, it brings a lot of moisture in towards places like Northland and those northern parts of the country," Law said.
"It's definitely worth keeping a very close eye on those weather warnings and watches and forecasts as we head through the next couple of days especially if you're in one of those areas that's already been impacted by the severe weather so far."
Tekapo was blanketed in snow in yesterday's storm, closing roads and cutting off the community.
Harry Railton works on a farm in the area and said the snow there was about 35cm deep. The last big snowfall was in 2015 when there was about 90cm, he said.
"So in the scheme of things it is not actually too bad, it's manageable - when you have 90 centimetres that's when things get pretty tricky."
Farmers in the area had cleared their own roads yesterday afternoon to get access to stock, and feeding out might be a bit slower than usual, he said.
