Roads are reopening in the upper South Island after heavy rain caused severe flooding.
The town of Westport was cut off for much of the day with all roads in and out of the town inundated.
State Highway 6 between Westport and Greymouth re-opened this afternoon while State Highway 67 to Waimarie and the Buller Gorge road is still closed.
One home was evacuated and there were concerns the Buller River would breach its banks on the Westport side. However high tide has come and gone without incident.
Westport is particularly vulnerable to flooding because it is on the flood plain between the Buller River and the Orowaiti Estuary, an old channel of the river that carries a substantial flow during deluges.
Minor flooding around the Nelson-Tasman region is now easing and river levels decreasing.
Five homes in Murchison had been inundated and the Takaka River had risen over the Waitapu Bridge, closing the Takaka-Collingwood Highway. The highway has since reopened.
Nelson-Tasman Civil Defence said tonight State Highway 65 between Murchison and Springs Junction is now closed due to a number of slips. It will be closed until at least Monday morning.
In Nelson, Avon Terrace from Bridge St to Hardy St remains closed.
MetService said the intense slow-moving weather front was moving gradually off the upper South Island, easing the heavy rainfall in Westland, Buller, Nelson and northwest Marlborough.
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- With AAP