Wild weather: State of emergency declared in Selwyn district

A state of emergency has been declared for Canterbury's Selwyn district as heavy rain lashes the region.

Mayor Sam Broughton said this morning emergency services and Civil Defence volunteers are working to help people evacuate at Selwyn Huts due to rising river levels and the likelihood the access road will be cut off.

A heavy rain warning remains in place until 6pm today.

Some 250 sandbags have been delivered to households in West Melton, Doyleston and Leeston. Community Sandbag stations were set up at community centres in Sheffield and Glentunnel last night.

Residents are being asked to conserve water.

Photo: Selwyn District Council

Large parts of the country are being hammered as torrential rain and gale force winds set in for the next few days.

Twenty-four weather warnings and watches are in place around Auckland, the East Cape, lower North Island, top of the South, Canterbury and the West Coast for Thursday.

They include snow fall warnings around Christchurch, the Canterbury High country. Porters Pass and Arthurs Pass (both State Highway 73) and the Lindis Pass (SH8) in Otago (overnight Wednesday), and Lewis Pass from Thursday.

MetService says there is a high chance an orange heavy rain warning will be upgraded to red in North Canterbury and Kaikōura, with the regional council warning that the torrential rain could result in flooded roads and rivers breaching their banks.

Meteorologist Mmathapelo Makgabutlane says it has been a wet night in eastern parts of the South Island, especially Canterbury, and for parts of the North Island.

The Canterbury region has already had 100 millimetres to 150mm of rainfall over the last 24 hours with more to come, she says.

Red warnings are still a possibility.

"We'll be keeping a very close eye to see how things develop."

April has been an "extremely interesting" weather month, she says, seeming to pack three months of events into just the four-week period.

"This year has been okay for the Canterbury region, however, this rainfall is falling on extremely sodden ground and I think at any time of year this amount of rainfall would possibly cause issues."

Strong winds and swells in Wellington

The lower North Island, and the top of the South, are expected to be lashed with gale-force southerlies over the next day, moving up from the West Coast overnight and hitting Wellington with some of the strongest winds seen in a decade.

Wind speeds are now picking up in the Wellington region.

The wind which is also being experienced at the top of the South Island will have "a flow-on effect for the wave conditions", Makgabutlane said.

Wave heights have hit 6 metres by 7am today and with high tide in about two hours they will get higher, she says.

Cook Strait ferry crossings have been cancelled until early Friday because of the high swells in the Strait.

The Interislander and Bluebridge say extra sailings will be put on over the weekend to clear the backlog of services.

- additional reporting ODT Online