Foods on the West Coast of New Zealand

Amidst all the pretty shallow reporting all you need to know is that this is very heavy rain in an area that is used to getting prodigeous amounts of rain.

West Coast homes flooded, 

slips block Buller Gorge

Heavy rain has flooded West Coast streets and homes, closed schools and triggered slips blocking the Buller Gore.

The Press,

6 March, 2015

All five schools in Westport are closed as the Fire Service pumps water from homes, and helps residents in flooded streets in Westport, Greymouth and Reefton.

Fire Services southern spokeswoman Jill Higgison said firefighters were helping pump water that had flooded houses from the road.

"There's not much we can do," she said. "There's a massive amount of rain here."

Half of Bazil's Hostel, on Westport's Russell St, had been flooded.

Owner Stephen Lee said he had lived in Westport his whole life. "I've never, ever seen rain like this."

The carpet on the low-lying hostel's ground floor was soaked from water from a blocked gutter outside.

Lee said 20 people were helping clean up and trying to dry the carpet to minimise the damage.

"We've got two Rug Doctors on the go."

Bazil's 80 guests had checked out in search of somewhere drier, he said.

"It's not like they've been sloshed out," Lee clarified. "It's not that bad. It's just a bit of water at the end of the day."

A camper, whose tent was pitched on the banks of the Taramakau River, was trapped this morning by the rising river.

A Surf Rescue boat helped the man pack up his tent ready for a ride 100 metres back to safety.

In Westport, a Harkness Pl resident said her street was flooded. "This is probably the worst I have ever seen in my 11 years living here."

She said the water was knee-deep at the moment and "quite heavy and still rising".

Westport furniture retailer Pat Bradley said his off-site storage unit was under 150mm of water, which had come in from the road.

Most streets in the town had surface flooding, because storm water drains "couldn't cope."

"Most of what we've got in storage is sitting in water," Bradley said.

More rain coming

Buller District Council mayor Garry Howard said Friday's rain was "worse than normal" because of the speed it fell.

He said a short break in the weather was "welcome relief" but the region was expecting a further 90mm of rain in the next few hours.

"Every minute it isn't raining is giving the opportunity for the surface water to run away."

Howard said an emergency call centre had been set up to take calls from members of the public. "It's a reasonably serious situation."

Farmers were moving stock to higher ground, Howard said.

Residents in low-lying areas were advised to move furnishings.

MetService meteorologist John Law said the area had about 100mm of rain overnight, with particularly heavy falls between 7-8am.

A narrow, slow-moving front had lingered over Hokitika and Greymouth this week. It was clearing though showers would continue for the region, he said.

Another area of low pressure from the west would bring further rain and a chance of thunder on Saturday.

"It's a pretty wet end to the week and start to the weekend," he said.

He said it had been "a while" since this this level of rain had fallen, as New Zealand had had a settled start to the year.

Westport Civil Defence community services officer Lana Thomas said systems were coping at present, and they had not had to evacuate anyone.

Civil Defence would review the situation early this afternoon, as more heavy rain was predicted, she said.

Slips block Buller Gorge

Police southern spokesman Inspector Alan Weston said trucks' paths through the lower Buller Gorge from Inangahua to Westport had been blocked by two slips near Summit Creek, and there was no detour.

People were able to walk away from a car that which was stuck in between the slips, he said.

New Zealand Transport Agency journey manager Lee Wright said contractors were working to remove the debris on State Highway 6 to get the vehicle out.

Its occupants were unharmed, he said.

Three police units were helping the contractors.

The highway was expected to reopen to single-lane traffic this afternoon.