West Coast residents are being told to voluntarily evacuate if they're able to, with "significant rainfall" expected in the region on Friday and into Saturday morning.
There were no major weather-related incidents to report along the West Coast overnight, but residents are being warned the worst may be yet to come.
Civil Defence controller Bob Dickson said on Thursday afternoon that emergency teams in Buller were making arrangements in case there was a need for mandatory evacuations.
He asked people with friends or family outside of Westport to evacuate if they could easily do so.
"The Coast Road and the Buller Gorge are open, so moving east and south out of town are still safe options. The forecast is showing significant rain for northern Buller, so residents should avoid travelling north," Dickson said.
He said there were evacuation centres at Greymouth Baptist Church, Sergeants Hill and Waimangaroa Community Hall.
As a precaution, those who experienced flooding in July last year were told to evacuate, he said.
"I know leaving your homes behind is very disruptive and distressing, but the community now has time to move safely before more rain sets in.”
Civil Defence controller Sean Judd said there were no major incidents around Buller overnight, which gave authorities time to prepare.
“But, certainly, we’re expecting that second lot of rain to come in. That’s the bit we need to plan for,” he said.
Torrential rain is expected to hit the West Coast in the next 48 hours. (Source: 1News)
“We’re bracing for significant rainfall.”
Judd said they were planning for the worst - which could include a large-scale evacuation - but hoped for the best.
“Our advice has been, early on, that if people can move to higher ground and are able to do that, they should do so. That is the main advice at the moment.”
In the past 24 hours, about a month’s worth of rainfall fell in the region.
Despite that, river levels looked “OK for now”, Judd said.
It comes after intense flooding in Westport in July 2021, which resulted in widespread damage.
Buller District Mayor Jamie Cleine said he felt a sense of déjà vu because the weather forecast for the next few days was similar to last year’s.
Buller District Mayor Jamie Cleine is hoping last year’s devastating floods won’t happen again. (Source: Breakfast)
“Someone’s hit a rerun on 2021 at this stage … far too soon,” Cleine told Breakfast.
“It’s absolutely catastrophic if it happens again.”
With July’s floods fresh in people’s minds, Cleine said the community rallied together to put sandbags around shops and sports clubs on Wednesday.
Cleine said authorities would use the latest information they had on hand to decide whether they needed to evacuate people.
“The intricacy of Westport is that you have to make a call like that reasonably early because in July, certainly, both bridges become impassable.
“Once that happens, you’re stuck on, effectively, an island on Westport.”
State Highway 6 between Fox Glacier and Haast Pass Lookout was closed because of flooding and slips.
South Westland Area School and Haast School were closed on Thursday and Friday due to the weather.
MetService issued a heavy rain warning along Westland, with another 250 to 350mm of rain expected about the ranges south of about Otira.
Rain was expected to continue from midday on Thursday, with more heavy rainfall expected on Friday, especially about the ranges north of Fox Glacier.
MetService said the rain was expected to cause rivers to rise and “significant flooding”.
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