West Coast soaked as Canterbury fries

Heavy rain has caused floods in Nelson and the West Coast, but the unruly weather shows no signs of breaking an emerging drought in Canterbury.

The starkly contrasting weather is the result of the same northerly subtropical flow dumping rain on the north and west of the South Island but leaving eastern areas experiencing warm, humid conditions.

Last night, Civil Defence workers were stood down after rivers peaked in Nelson and Takaka.

Earlier, sandbags were used in Takaka as river water spilled into the street.

Nelson-Tasman Civil Defence emergency management officer Roger Ball said staff would continue to monitor rivers overnight, with clean-up work to start today.

"It appears as though the rain is easing and the river levels are easing as well. We are continuing to monitor it very closely," he said.

The rain had been torrential throughout the day, but eased about 8pm.

Several roads in Nelson and on the West Coast were closed by flooding, including the Takaka Hill highway and State Highway 6 between Whataroa and Haast. The highway between Hira, east of Nelson, and Havelock was closed by floodwaters last night.

Schools were closed early in Golden Bay, and police warned motorists on the West Coast and in Nelson and Blenheim to take extreme care because of flooding and rocks and trees on roads.

 The outlook is markedly different for Canterbury. While a few showers are forecast today, the outlook shows little rain relief until February.

The earlier summer peak is good news for holidaymakers but not for farmers already struggling with a spring drought.

The region is expected to turn brown over the next few weeks, more than a month ahead of schedule.

Parallels are already being drawn with the long, hot summer of 1997-98, when Christchurch and the region sweltered in frequent 30deg-plus temperatures.

The warm north-westerlies have already caused scrub fires and pushed the fire risk to extreme in places.

In North Canterbury, the foothills and some inland basins, there has been little more than 10mm of rain since early September.

North Canterbury Federated Farmers president Chris Sundstrum said last night the region had experienced droughts in the past four years, punctuated by two damaging winter floods, including July's downpours.

Sheep farmers had dropped about 10 per cent of stock because of last year's drought.

Sundstrum said farmers with irrigation should be OK, but "dry-land farmers are really looking at trouble" if the drought lengthened.

Spring grass growth had been hit by the lack of rain, which would have a knock-on effect as the summer wore on, he said.

Industry experts had said supplementary feeding would become common from January if dry conditions continued.

Blue Skies Weather forecaster Tony Trewinnard said summer had begun early this year, a change from recent years, when it had started in the new year after Decembers that were cooler than normal.

"I would suggest we have a couple more months of warmer, drier and sunnier than normal weather for Canterbury. "I don't think the pattern will change through December, with not much change through January. Maybe at the end of January and into February there could be a change to more depressions over the North Island."

Humid northerly winds from the tropics had been dragging warm air south across New Zealand over the past few days, with heavy rain in western and northern areas, he said.

"We don't get a lot of air coming on to New Zealand directly from the north. It certainly happens from time to time, but it's not that common," Trewinnard said.

- © Fairfax NZ News