Westland residents warned to stay off roads amid severe weather warnings

River levels on the West Coast are beginning to drop but officials are keeping a close eye on the Hokitika River, which is expected to peak on Saturday evening, and coincides with the high tide.

There had been some flooding around the Kaniere Kokatahi area.

Southern Westland remained under a local state of emergency as Franz Josef experienced its wettest 24 hours in 45 years.

Mayor Helen Lash made the declaration on Saturday morning after 375 millimetres of rain fell across the coast in the 24 hours to 7am.

A section of State Highway Six between Fox and Haast was closed due to flooding and slips, but the section between Haast and Makarora had reopened.

Water levels on the Whio, Haast and Hokitika Rivers were dropping after triggering level one alerts earlier on Saturday.

West Coast Emergency Management spokesperson Claire Brown said officials were continuing to monitor the situation.

"We're still carefully what's happening down [in] South Westland. We do know that there have been some properties that have had water inundation, particularly over last night, early this morning.

"It does appear that the weather conditions are beginning to ease off, which is great news. However, we still have quite a lot of debris on the roads."

The heavy rain was expected to pass through by Saturday evening, but had left a trail of damage on the roads.

Earlier, Brown said the declaration had been made "as extensive flooding causes significant problems across the district, including evacuations, road closures and landslips in the South Westland area.

"This declaration provides for controllers to direct and coordinate personnel, material and other resources made available and provides access to extraordinary powers to deliver an effective and timely response to an emergency.

RNZ is New Zealand's statutory civil defence lifeline radio broadcaster, providing vital information and updates as they come to hand. All frequencies can be found here.

"Members of the public are reminded to prepare getaway bags in preparation for potential evacuations. If anyone is feeling unsafe, please self-evacuate to friends or family on higher ground or call 111."

The community of Hannah's Clearing around 20km south of Haast was isolated and campervans had been evacuated from a camping ground in the early hours of the morning.

Allan Dick had been travelling in his campervan and had planned to travel south to central Otago.

He said his plans had been thwarted.

"It's rained solidly with absolutely no let-up at all for the past 30 hours and now we're stuck," he said.

"We're here for the duration but we don't know how long the duration is.

"It's heavy and it doesn't stop at all."

Confined to his campervan, Dick said he had spent the morning reading and watching the All Blacks test on his laptop.

"We're lucky to have coverage on the laptop," he said.

Emergency Management Minister Mark Mitchell was travelling from Hokitika to Franz Josef and said the roads were hazardous.

"There have been some slips. There is a community through the south ... because of slips that has been isolated and cut off."

Mitchell said the evacuated campers have been taken to a safer area.

The Waiho River, near Franz Joseph, was running high with the first alarm activated, however, the latest update said it has receded slightly.

Orange level rain warnings are in place for Westland until at least this afternoon, with a small chance warnings could escalate to red.

West Coast Civil Defence has partially activated its emergency operations centre.

Road closures after slips

Claire Brown asked people to avoid travel, particularly in the south of Westland, with some road closures in place.

These include State Highway 6 from Fox Glacier to Haast, due to a slip, and Ross to Fox Glacier because of flooding and slips.

In a statement, the New Zealand Transport Agency said parts of the state highway will remain closed over the weekend.

Systems manager Mark Pinner said: "Our crews will continue to clean up the fallen trees and slips around Bruce Bay, the glacier towns and south of Ross but the Knights Point cracks are of more concern.

"We will have a surveyor on site this afternoon and more geotechnical inspections by chopper Sunday morning to assess the area at Knights Point. SH6 through Knights Point area will remain closed for the weekend with the next update for the route between Fox Glacier and Haast at 10am Monday."

NZTA said no detour was available for SH6 at Knights Point.

"People wanting to get to Greymouth or Hokitika will need to come via Arthur's Pass or the Lewis Pass from the east coast for the time being, or delay their journeys."

Mitchell said "hopefully" roads would be restored and reopened as soon as possible.

"Obviously the big focus right now is public safety and making sure there is a strong response.

"The West Coasters are pretty good and used to dealing with water and rain but for us as a country, this is a reality. We are going to continue to be hit by these weather events and obviously it's extremely important in terms of how we respond and react to that."

"I came over yesterday for a briefing and already the wheels were in motion. The local mayor and local leadership are very good, they're across it, they respond early which is very important, not just in terms of the response but the recovery."

Mitchell earlier said Westland residents should stay off the roads.

He said the main area of concern is the Waiho River which experts were keeping a close eye on.

MetService has also issued orange heavy rain warnings for Grey and Buller until 9pm Saturday, with 100mm to 130mm of rain expected.

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