Ross Kelland, owner of Ashbury Mowers and Heating has a big clean up job as yesterday's storm brought water and silt all throughout his business.

﻿The state of emergency in the Timaru District, declared on Friday as a result of torrential rain and widespread flooding, has been lifted.

The Civil Defence Centre at the Timaru District Council has closed and the Environment Canterbury Flood Room is in the process of standing down.

NZDF liaison officer Lieutenant Cameron Howell said "generally things are pretty good" in South Canterbury and it was looking like "business as usual".

1 of 7 MYTCHALL BRANSGROVE/STUFF Lance Corporal Gerald Hart looks at the high, fast-flowing Orari river. 2 of 7 MYTCHALL BRANSGROVE/STUFF Staff Sergeant Jason Segal talks to a resident at the Waipopo huts. 3 of 7 MYTCHALL BRANSGROVE/STUFF Unimog at Peel Forest driving through surface flooding. 4 of 7 MYTCHALL BRANSGROVE/STUFF Staff Sergeant Jason Segal. 5 of 7 MYTCHALL BRANSGROVE/STUFF Lance Corporal Gerald Hart drives a MHOV vehicle around South Canterbury. 6 of 7 MYTCHALL BRANSGROVE/STUFF Janelle Mackie, of Regional Civil Defence, Civil Defence controller Paul Cooper, communications manager Stephen Doran, and Cameron Howell of the Third Combat Support Services battalion in the Civil Defence centre in Timaru on Friday night. 7 of 7 MYTCHALL BRANSGROVE/STUFF Lance Corporal Gerald Hart, Third Combat Support Services Battalion member, left, and Staff Sergeant Jason Segal look at the condition of a ford at Peel Forest.

Personnel would stay in Timaru until the state of emergency had been lifted.

Crews had gone to assess the damage in the "worst-hit areas", Peel Forest, and the Waipopo, Rangitata, Stratheona and Milford Huts, at daylight on Saturday.

Overall conditions in Timaru were looking to "ease", he said.

Grant Shimmin The tide reaches the dunes at the top of the beach on Caroline Bay.

He said the district looked to be in a "recovery phase".

Timaru District Council Civil Defence shift controller Justin Bagust said the emergency operations centre would close by 3pm.

"We are moving back to business as usual."

1 of 7 Nikita Goodger Nikita Goodger and her friend Carly Trevathan didn't let the flooding stop them from having some fun near St Andrew's. 2 of 7 Nikita Goodger Nikita Goodger and her friend Carly Trevathan didn't let the flooding stop them from having some fun near St Andrew's. 3 of 7 MEGAN SUTHERLAND/STUFF Corporal Liam Norris alongside a New Zealand Defence Force Unimog in central Timaru on Saturday morning. 4 of 7 MEGAN SUTHERLAND/STUFF From inside an NZ Defence Force truck at Winchester, north of Timaru, en route to Peel Forest to check on welfare of residents. 5 of 7 SAM SHERWOOD/STUFF State Highway 1 remained flooded at Glenavy, south of Timaru, on Saturday morning. 6 of 7 TRISH CAMERON/SUPPLIED Gus, left, and Tom Cameron check out the damage to Stanton Rd, at Kimbell near Fairlie, after it was washed out overnight. 7 of 7 SAM SHERWOOD/STUFF An abandoned car sits on the side of SH1 just north of Makikihi.

The Environment Canterbury (ECan) Flood Room had also stood down, he said.

ECan would continue to monitor river levels but they were not at a "heightened level", he said.

The district was now moving into "recovery mode".

MEGAN SUTHERLAND/STUFF NZDF medium heavy operation vehicles cross the Upper Orari Bridge heading to Peel Forest to check on the welfare of residents there.

Contractors were still out checking debris and infrastructure but everything else would be reviewed on Monday, he said.

Members of the public could be kept up to date via the council website or Facebook page and could still contact the council if they had any issues.

The council would look at holding community meetings in the next few weeks to gain public feedback, he said.

MEGAN SUTHERLAND/STUFF The New Zealand Defence Force travels north on State Highway 1 from Timaru bound for Peel Forest to check on the welfare of residents.

Sixteen people had gone to the Timaru welfare centre, which had been set up at the Southern Trust Events Centre, by midnight on Friday, he said.

Between 80 and 100 people had been asked to voluntarily evacuate from the Waipopo, Rangitata, Stratheona and Milford Huts, as well as some residents living along Saltwater Creek, in Timaru.

Motels and hotels across the district had offered accommodation at a "discounted rate" for people who did not have a place to stay.

STU OLDHAM/STUFF A firefighter, assisted by a Netcon worker, tackles a smoldering power pole on the Pleasant Point highway after strong winds forced wires to send electricity through the sodden pole.

"It was the basic [provided at the shelters] showers, food, blankets," he said.

Saltwater Creek residents were allowed to return to their homes at 7am on Saturday.

WALL COLLAPSE

Hockey South Canterbury A light tower at the Alpine Energy Wett Dressed hockey turf in Timaru has come down.

Timaru District Council Civil Defence shift controller Justin Bagust said the council had sent engineers to assess two properties on Douglas St after a retaining wall collapsed due to heavy rain and gale force winds on Friday.

He said one house was a holiday home belonging to a man in Christchurch who was not in the house at the time.

The other was "the one house in the district that you cannot go to".

He said it was a safety hazard

"We believe it was not safe."

The resident of that house was "happy" to leave, he said.

The council did not have to accommodate the resident as the resident had already found alternative accommodation, he said.

The council had not had any other reports of slips in Timaru.

He said contractors had been out on Saturday clearing debris and roads but believed the damaged at Douglas St would not be cleared until Monday once usual operations were back up and running.

A large tree had fallen from the property blocking the road on Saturday, which was later cleared by contractors, he said.

There were cones surrounding the slip and the footpath was closed.

He said the public needed to "use a bit of common sense" and not walk near the slip in case it further fell away.

HUTS RESIDENTS CAN RETURN

Residents who were advised to evacuate their homes, dues to rising floodwaters at Peel Forest and the Waipopo, Rangitata, Stratheona and Milford Huts, on Friday night were allowed to return early on Saturday afternoon.

"All evacuated residents are now able to return home," a Timaru District Council Civil Defence spokesman said.

He said residents were advised to take care on the roads but "access to the areas" was "hopefully fine".

ROAD CLOSURES

The road extension of South Street down to Patiti Point, in Timaru, is closed due to erosion of the sea cliff.

State Highway 82 between Waimate and Kurow had reopened.

SH79 between Fairlie and Geraldine had reopened but was down to one lane in sections.

State Highway 8 through the Lindis Pass was open, but due to snow, chains had to be carried.

SH 1 from Pukeuri to Glenavy remained closed, a area warning remained in place northbound from Glenavy to Timaru.

However, while access between Ashburton and Rakaia was expected to "open soon for essential travel", motorists were urged to be prepared for delays, as many roads were affected by surface flooding.

The NZTA also had contracting crews out assessing roads around Timaru on Saturday morning "with river levels receding there", it said in an update.

Environment Canterbury said in an update on Saturday morning rainfall intensities had "eased during the night".

ECan said all South Canterbury river flows had peaked between 11pm and midnight on Friday and were "gradually lowering"

"Rainfall is expected to continue so all rivers will be monitored," the regional council said.

MetService warned South Canterbury residents to expect continued downpours throughout Saturday, with no improvement in sight until Sunday.

Although Saturday's rain would not be as heavy as Friday's deluge, residents should remain cautious, MetService media forecaster Tuporo Marsters.

"There'll be no improvement, the ground's already waterlogged," he said.

The wind that accompanied Friday's rain was also expected to continue, with south-westerlies continuing through the day and easing off in the evening.

Rain continued to fall in Timaru and surrounding towns on Friday night, albeit at a lower intensity than the torrential downpours that came earlier.

South Canterbury residents should keep an eye on the warnings by accessing the MetService website, Marsters said.

Overnight, Timaru experienced winds recorded at a high average speed of 81 kmh, with 11mm of rain from 9pm Friday to 7am on Saturday. The average temperature was 7 degrees celsius.

Fairlie also recorded 11mm of rain during that time period, with winds averaging 50kmh.

It continued to rain heavily in Waimate, meanwhile, with the town recording 25mm of rain overnight.

Geraldine recorded a further 6.5mm of rain.

Marsters said conditions were expected to improve by Sunday, with the sun expected to emerge once more.

"Tomorrow is looking a lot better.

"Fine and frosty, south-westerlies, and drying out," he said.

BUSINESS FLOODED

Ashbury Mowers and Heating owner Ross Kelland was assessing the damage on Saturday morning after his business was flooded.

"We watched it all day yesterday, coming up and up, and by 4pm we just couldn't stop it so we went home."

While the water was a pain, it was the silt that had caused the most damage, he said.

"I can handle the water, but not the silt."

He didn't "have the foggiest" about the financial hit the business would take, but said it would likely be closed for most of the coming week while the clean up got underway.

Despite the damage, Kelland said he had to be philosophical about it.

"We're not dead, that's the main thing."

POWER OUTAGES

Power has been reconnected in Pleasant Point area after a power pole that caught fire caused an outage lasting several hours on Saturday.

The entire Pleasant Point area lost power at 12.18pm on Saturday.

Around 100 South Canterbury homes, at Levels, Timaru, Pleasant Point, Washdyke Flat, and Waimate remained without power on Saturday morning, Alpine Energy chief executive Andrew Tombs said.

Tombs said the homes lost power just before 6pm on Friday, due to tree debris falling on power lines.

The outages were caused by tree debris spreading after soil had been loosened by the heavy rains.

"Soil has got so wet that the trees and plants have been completely uprooted," Tombs said.

Restoration teams had been out since dawn on Saturday, the earliest stage at which restoration work could be conducted.

"All going well, the operations centre are hopeful we will have power restored by the end of today," Tombs said.

"We've got crews out today, we'll have crews out tomorrow."

Alpine Energy had listed 6pm as the anticipated time of power restoration for all affected areas.

It had planned ahead for the wild weather, with teams on call before the storm hit South Canterbury.

Tombs said callouts had been restricted to coastal areas of South Canterbury. The company had received no calls from the Mackenzie District or other highland areas of South Canterbury.

A light tower has also collapsed at the Alpine Energy Wett Dressed hockey turf in Timaru.

A post on the Hockey South Canterbury Facebook page said they were working to make the area safe.

"As you will see the light tower on the Alpine Energy Wett Dressed Turf has collapsed last night. There is wires and glass everywhere. Under no circumstances is anyone to enter the area around this turf until this is sorted.

"The Wett Dressed turf will be taped off and closed until further notice."

DEFENCE FORCE ASSESSES SOUTH CANTERBURY

Defence Force personnel were patrolling the worst-hit parts of South Canterbury throughout the night and again at first light on Saturday.

NZ Defence Force liaison officer Lieutenant Cameron Howell said one team was headed to Peel Forest, which was badly affected by the heavy rainfall on Friday.

Other teams headed to check on the Saltwater Creek Huts, Waipopo Huts, Rangitata Huts and Stratheona Huts, Howell said.



The areas were "worst hit" by flooding and residents had been asked to voluntarily evacuate on Friday, he said.



Defence Force teams went to these areas overnight but were returning in the light of day as they could not assess the situation properly in the dark, he said.

A visual assessment of Timaru and the wider region was also being undertaken at first light on Saturday, with the Defence Force assisting Civil Defence to check on any properties in low-lying areas.

They would also be checking for any damage so that once the rain, and threat of rising floodwaters, subsided, a recovery operation could be launched, Howell said.

He stressed the NZDF had been deployed to "support Civil Defence" due to its vehicle capability, which enabled personnel to get through heavily flooded areas.

SICK CHILD STILL IN OAMARU

Waitaki District mayor Gary Kircher said a sick child who was meant to have been transferred by the New Zealand Defence Force from Oamaru to Dunedin Hospital's intensive care unit remained in Oamaru overnight.

He said he two army trucks came to Oamaru briefly but was unsure of the reason why the child remained in Oamaru overnight.

Kircher said Waitaki would "reassess its situation" on Saturday afternoon.

He said there was a "reasonable amount" of damage to unsealed roads and flooding damage to houses.

Some people were put up in backpackers overnight and St Kevin's College housed nine people at its boarding hostel, but the situation was not as bad as in Timaru, he said.

SEWAGE ISSUE

Surface flooding in Oamaru has caused some sewage to retreat into several residential properties' stormwater drainage.

Waitaki mayor Gary Kircher said there was "a small risk" to the several dozen houses in the north end of town that were affected.

Kircher said he was not aware of any properties affected on the south hill.

"It is not a pleasant thing but unfortunately under circumstances like this there is not much that we can do."

"Yesterday it became obvious when stormwater covers were being blown off the holes," Kircher said.

Residents dealing with stormy water that was "smelly" were advised to wash their hands thoroughly.

The town's drinking water supply was not affected.