Southland Flood Warning
Flood warnings have been activated in Southland and caution is advised.
What you need to know:
- Invercargill has already surpassed its average September rainfall (83.6mm), with most of it falling overnight (26mm) of rain overnight – 7.8mm of which fell between 7am and 8am Thursday. The city had already received 100mm of rain this month.
- Rainfall in Western and Northern Southland had well surpassed the agency’s threshold for heavy rain, which is 6mm an hour with Riverton and Mossburn seeing 8 to 9mm between 7am and 8am.
- Environment Southland issued a flood warning for The Aparima River at Dunrobin, the Hamilton Burn at Waterloo Road and The Waiau River at Sunnyside.
- The Southland District Council was asking motorists to drive carefully and slowly amid extensive surface flooding.
- Overhead line damage caused power outages in Koreka Hill, Nightcaps, Wreys Bush, Sinclair Road, Te Anau Downs and Upukaroa.
- Milford Rd would be closed all day Thursday from East Gate (Hollyford) to Donne River (Westgate) because of the risk of an avalanche.
- Further north, Waka Kotahi closed State Highway 6 from Haast to Makarora because of a slip.
- In Eastern Southland, Gore received 28mm of rain overnight with 7.8mm between 7am and 8am.
- Thunderstorms around 3am Thursday morning brought 214 lightning strikes over Northern Southland. The rain had caused the Aparima River to jump 2.05 metres above normal and it was rising 377mm/hour.
- The Hamilton Burn was 1.87 metres above normal and rising 521 mm/hour, while the Waiau River was 3.22 metres above normal and rising 191 mm/hour.
Weather is set to settle down later in the day but for now, its best to exercise caution.
AN UPDATE FROM EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT SOUTHLAND FOR FRIDAY, 22ND SEPT IS SHARED IN THE COMMENTS BELOW.
Some Choice News!
DOC is rolling out a new tool to help figure out what to tackle first when it comes to protecting our threatened species and the things putting them at risk.
Why does this matter? As Nikki Macdonald from The Post points out, we’re a country with around 4,400 threatened species. With limited time and funding, conservation has always meant making tough calls about what gets attention first.
For the first time, DOC has put real numbers around what it would take to do everything needed to properly safeguard our unique natural environment. The new BioInvest tool shows the scale of the challenge: 310,177 actions across 28,007 sites.
Now that we can see the full picture, it brings the big question into focus: how much do we, as Kiwis, truly value protecting nature — and what are we prepared to invest to make it happen?
We hope this brings a smile!
Poll: If we want to reduce speeding, what do you think actually changes driver behaviour? 🛻🚨🚓
In the Post's article on speeding penalties, the question is asked whether speeding fines are truly about road safety, or are they just a way to boost revenue for the Crown?
What do you think? Should speeding motorists receive speeding fines or demerit points?
-
37.4% The sting of a fine (Money talks!)
-
62.6% The threat of demerit points (Nobody wants to lose their license!)
Share your favourite main crop potato recipe and win a copy of our mag!
Love potatoes? We will give away free copies of the May 2026 issue to readers whose potato recipes are used in our magazine. To be in the running, make sure you email your family's favourite way to enjoy potatoes: mailbox@nzgardener.co.nz, by March 1, 2026.
Loading…
