Heavy rain in Wellington caused surface flooding and slips with the council fielding about 100 weather-related calls today.

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Incidents from the flooding:

Cobham Drive in Kilbirnie was flooded both directions.

* All buses in Wellington were delayed by 15 minutes.

* A slip closed the Johnsonville line.

* A slip blocked Mairangi Rd in Wadestown.

* There was a large slip in Churchill Drive near the railway overbridge

* Reports of manhole covers blown off by the heavy water flows

Richard Davidson from Downers contractors said they received a string of calls about eight different slips about 9.30am.

The two largest were at Mairangi Rd and Churchill Drv in the Wadestown area.

The slip in Mairangi Rd had between 30 to 40 cubic metres of dirt and left a deck partially hanging.

The Churchill Drv slip had between 50 to 60cu m of dirt.

Davidson said they were prioritising the busiest roads to get them cleared for traffic.

Police central communications spokeswoman Robyn Rice there were flooding issues and call-outs "everywhere" in Wellington due to this morning's heavy rain.

Commuter Kirsty Fyfe said the slip on Mairangi Rd was blocking the whole road and she and other drivers had to turn around.

"I was trying to get through. It's on the school run route. All the cars had to turn around."

There are also issues on the train lines due to a slip in Wadestown, which has closed the Johnsonville line until at least 3pm. TranzMetro has arranged bus replacements.

Cobham Drive in Kilbirnie was flooded causing severe delays on the road. Water levels dropped by about 10.30am.

Miramar resident Stephanie Bell said she spent more than an hour trying to get out of Miramar before giving up because of gridlocked traffic. "There were literally hundreds and hundreds of people sitting in their cars."

The Wellington City Council said the heavy rain caused surface flooding on central city roads and throughout Kilbirnie, Curtis Street in Northland, Karori, Hataitai and Miramar.

New World Metro on Willis Street experienced some flooding because of an overflowing drain just outside the shop.

Checkout manager Anita Kumar said there was not any damage.

There had been more than 14mm of rain in Kelburn between 7am and 8am and more than 10mm at the airport in the same time.

MetService spokesman Daniel Corbett said the weather was expected to clear up through the early afternoon and then a southerly change this evening could bring some more showers, Corbett said.

Fine and dry weather should spread across the region for Tuesday and Wednesday.

- © Fairfax NZ News

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