Flooding in Nelson on Sunday evening after a day of heavy rain.

Heavy rain has flooded roads, threatened homes and downed trees across the Nelson region.

The Nelson Tasman Emergency Management Group said at 5.45pm that flooding had closed Tahunanui Drive and the Manuka Street ford was also closed because of the high river level.

There was surface flooding on Whakatu Drive, Waimea Road - Annesbrook, Lightband Road in Brightwater, Strawbridge Square in Stoke, Kawai Street and Toswill Road in Tahuna.

Katy Jones Nelmac workers at the scene on Tahunanui Drive where a section of the road was lifted in Sunday's downpour.

The Maitai River through central Nelson overflowed at some points, including the stretch between Bridge St and Nile St, where riverside benches and tables were under water. Police closed Avon Terrace, which borders the river, as a precaution.



There were also slips on State Highway 60 at Spooners, and on the highway at Mapua, where three lanes were blocked.

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* Severe weather warning issued for Nelson

* Wet weekend ahead

In Stoke, firefighters pumped water from the New World supermarket on Sunday afternoon. Supermarket staff, a number of them barefoot, were seen leaving the building around 3.30pm.

RACHEL PERROT/STUFF Heavy rain has caused flooding on Nelson's Tahananui Drive.

Firecrews were also called to a house in Wilson Place off Main Road in Stoke that had been flooded, but no further details were available.

Water gushed from a lifted section of road in Tahunanui Drive, just after 5pm. Nelmac contractors were on the scene.

A car hit the median barrier on Whakatu Drive just after 2pm, about a kilometre from the Saxton Rd turnoff.

WARREN GAMBLE/STUFF The Maitai River in flood at Domett St in Nelson.

The road was cleared quickly, and there were no injuries, police said.

It was one of several crashes in Nelson on Sunday with a car colliding with a stationary vehicle on St Vincent's St in the city centre just after 4pm, and a car hitting the curb on State Highway 6 near Atawhai shortly after.

In Tasman district, council contractors had cleared away fallen trees in Lower Moutere and Glenhope.

LUZ ZUNIGA Fire crews pump water from Stoke New World supermarket.

The trees had given way to subsidence, but were quickly cleared from roads, council spokesman Chris Choat said.

Police also responded to reports of water on State Highway 60, three kilometres north of Takaka in Golden Bay on Sunday morning.

Contractors were on-site at the Takaka-Collingwood highway, a police spokeswoman said.

LUZ ZUNIGA A car wheel floats down the swollen Maitai River in Nelson, on Sunday.

Tasman district council was keeping an eye on several properties threatened by water in Motueka, with water entering driveways in Woodland Ave near High St on Sunday morning.

The major rivers in Golden Bay were high and rising, but were not expected to pose problems, a council hydrology unit report on Sunday morning showed.

A severe weather warning from the MetService remains in place until midnight on Sunday.

MetService The MetService's rain radar forecast for 4pm on Sunday shows heavy rain to continue into the afternoon.

At 10am on Sunday the MetService warned of a further 100mm to 150mm of rain on top of what had already fallen about the ranges west of Motueka, and 60 to 100mm elsewhere.

The rain was expected to ease late on Sunday.