Canterbury weather updates

The Team from Neighbourly.co.nz

What you need to know:
- A Severe Weather alert is in place for Canterbury between Amberley and Timaru, including Christchurch and Banks Peninsula due to rainfall.
- A State of Emergency has been issued for the Selwyn district and a main road in and out of Banks Peninsula is closed.
- Flooding has hit many roads in the Selwyn district and Christchurch.
- One person has got their car stuck on Oxford Terrace while another woman managed to ride her electric bike through the flowing water.
- Fire and Emergency New Zealand South Island shift manager Ian Littlejohn said they were called to 8 “non life threatening" weather incidents overnight. He said that as daylight begins they were expecting more calls. “The worst is yet to come.”
There were reports of sink holes opening up on the Rakaia highway but police and emergency services "had it under control".
- North Canterbury, north of Amberley is also under an orange heavy rain warning. Up to 150mm more rain has been forecast and this area also has a high chance of being upgraded to a red warning.
- At 3am, it was reported there were power outages north of Christchurch. A tree has fallen on power lines just north of Christchurch, cutting the power to 368 properties.
So far, power has been restored to around 140 properties but houses on Calypso Place, Hemingway Place, Heyders Road, Lower Styx Road, Nautilus Place, Riverside Lane, Seabrooke Drive, Styx River Place and Turners Road are still affected.
- The following roads in Christchurch's northern area are closed due to flooding:
Fitzgerald Avenue between Kilmore Street and Cambridge Terrace
New Brighton Road between Rawson Street and Pages Road
Avonside Drive between Wainoni Road and Kerrs Road
Avonside Drive/Swanns Road between Retreat Road and Woodham Road
- The councils are monitoring rivers, waterways and stormwater networks

Keep up to date with all weather updates across the country on the Stuff website.
MetService warnings can be found here: www.metservice.com...

4.20pm Update:
A Local State of Emergency has been declared for Christchurch and Banks Peninsula.

Mayor Phil Mauger made the declaration at 4pm due to the impact of the wet weather such as flooding, slips, landslide and falling trees, particularly on Banks Peninsula.

“We need to make sure we’re able to keep people safe by putting all of our resources into responding to any problems that arise and one of the best ways we can do this is by declaring a Local State of Emergency.”

“We expected the weather would ease, which hasn’t happened so declaring will mean we are prepared for anything that may happen overnight,” the Mayor said.

“The decision to include Christchurch was made as precautionary measure. High tide is expected at 7.41pm so declaring means we would have access to powers under the State of Emergency if they’re required.”