Selwyn flooding 'as bad as it gets', says evacuated resident

Flooding at Doyleston in the Selwyn District where a state of emergency was declared this morning. Photo: RNZ / Nathan Mckinno

The flooding in the rural Canterbury settlement of Selwyn Huts is as bad as it's ever been, an evacuated resident says.

Keith Morrison. Photo: RNZ / Nate McKinnon

Selwyn District has declared a state of emergency and asked residents of Selwyn Huts to evacuate as rivers continue to rise and rain lashes already sodden ground.

Keith Morrison said people were knocking on doors telling residents to evacuate as he left his Upper Selwyn Huts home Thursday morning.

Some were in denial about the effects of climate change on the community, but recent weather drives home the reality, Morrison said.

"It's as bad as I've ever seen it. The roads are the worst I've seen it," he said.

"But around the houses it's all ponding, so it's as bad as it gets.

"It's a long story, but we're planning for climate change adaptation and eventually over the next few decades needing to relocate, so this is just another prompt - that's how I see it. It might actually help the community to realise it's real because a lot of people are still in denial about it."

MetService has heavy rain warning and watches in place on Thursday for Gisborne, the Eastern Bay of Plenty, Kaikōura, and Canterbury including Christchurch and Banks Peninsula.

It seems the river tops the stop bank every year now, and it has been wet over the past week, Morrison said.

"It's just been incessant. It started last week and that made everything waterlogged and then when the new rain came then it all started flowing over. There's nowhere else to go anymore because we are not far above the sea level, so everything's totally waterlogged.

"Just incessant rain and just heaps of it."

Photo: RNZ / Nate McKinnon

Selwyn Mayor Sam Broughton said there there significant surface flooding, and residents of the Upper Selwyn Huts should self evacuate due flooding from the Selwyn River, which is in high flood and still rising.

Late last night, the Coes Ford and other fords across the district were closed due to river levels.

The council has distributed sandbags to some houses in West Melton, Doyleston and Leeston, and community sandbag stations have been set up at community centres in Sheffield and Glentunnel.

Residents have been asked to conserve water.

Several roads in Christchurch closed

The council distributed sandbags to specific houses in the areas of West Melton, Doyleston, and Leeston. Photo: Geoff Sloan

Canterbury schools closed

Across Canterbury a number of schools are closed and in the Selwyn District only one of the four high schools is open, Rolleston College, though it urged whānau to travel only if it is safe to do so.

Darfield, Ellesmere and Lincoln High Schools are all closed due to concerns about road safety, or surface flooding on school grounds.

Selwyn's Tai Tapu School is also closed as is Ashburton College in Mid-Canterbury.