Tasman, Nelson to prepare for more heavy rain following flooding
The storm-battered Tasman and Nelson area is now having to prepare for more heavy rain on Thursday and Friday.
It comes as the area is cleaning up after heavy rain on Friday and Saturday.
RNZ journalist Samantha Gee was part of a group - including Minister for Emergency Management Mark Mitchell - which surveyed the damage by helicopter.
The worst affected area appeared to be the township of Kohatu, beside the Motueka River, and across to Quinney's Bush, she said.
The flooding has left one person dead, and caused damage across the Motukea Valley, stock losses and road closures.
Following the helicopter survey on Sunday afternoon, Civil Defence controller for the area Alec Louverdis told reporters staff were being prepared for another bout of rain.
"Unfortunately it is not just the response but we are looking ahead to Thursday and Friday with the news that we can expect some very high rainfall.
"It is the last thing we wanted to hear but something we are preparing for."
The locality of Kohatu, beside the Motueka River, near Quinney's Bush, remained one of the worst hit areas. State Highway 6 through the area was closed.
Two other roads had re-opened - State highway 63 in Marlborough and the Wakefield Street to St Arnaud route, Louverdis said.
Parts of the area, though, were experiencing problems with cellular coverage, especially Wakefield, Street Arnaud and Richmond, after slips took out parts of the fibre optic cable.
Chorus today said it had managed to restore some connections around St Arnaud, but Louverdis said other parts of the connection had been badly hit and Civil Defence was trying to get Starlink connections for some people affected.
Tasman's deputy mayor Stuart Bryant - who was also present in the helicopter on Sunday - told reporters damage to the Motueka Valley was more extensive than could be seen from the ground.
"Most of the damage progressively gets worse as you go up the Motueka Valley until you get the Wangapeka confluence, [there's a] severely damaged hop farm and sheep and beef farm there with lots of damaged fence, lots of gravel across the paddocks," Bryant said. Rain radar
During this afternoon's press conference, Mitchell said a rain radar for the top of the South Island was a priority.
Nelson's closest rain radar is in Wellington and the next is further south in Westland, limiting the region's access to accurate weather data.
Mitchell said he would look at rectifying that.
"Definitely we're talking about a rain radar, I'm very motivated to try and progress that as quickly as we can because it's obvious that it can provide more early warning for the decision makers," he said.
"The other thing we're doing is we're bringing NIWA and MetService together and quite simply the reason we're doing that is so we can provide much better data and a much better product out to the regions, the CDEM teams and the mayors."
Damage assessments are continuing across the region
Anyone with any worries or issues should contact the Civil Defence community hub set up in the Motueka Rec Centre.
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