A West Coast settlement has been cut off and voluntary evacuations are underway in Westport as heavy rain continues to fall in the region for a third day.
Seddonville, along the Mokihinui River in the foothills of the Glasgow range, was cut off by a slip on State Highway 67 on Thursday night.
State Highway 6 between Fox Glacier and Haast Pass Lookout also remained closed on Friday morning due to flooding and slips.
The rainfall is expected to peak on Friday and would coincide with an unusually high tide.
Jamie Cleine says mandatory evacuations are still on the cards. (Source: Breakfast)
Buller District Mayor Jamie Cleine said emergency teams had been communicating with people in Seddonville to figure out a way to clear the slip on State Highway 67.
He said he would be meeting with a technical team at 9am to get the latest on the situation and figure out if a mandatory evacuation was needed, and to what extent.
Cleine said that decision would depend on river levels and the latest forecast.
“It’s still looking likely that the peak point and the worrying time will be late Friday night and early hours of Saturday morning for all our rivers.”
An Air Force's helicopter was also coming to the region this morning to help with the preparation effort.
“[It's a] nice reassurance to have that coming," Cleine said.
“There are high levels of anxiety [in the community] - July was not that long ago. A lot of people are still not back in their houses and a lot of people are just back in thinking ‘not again’.
"There’s quite a high level of preparedness and people have responded to our call.”
As of Friday morning, an updated forecast by MetService said the Buller region could expect about 170 to 230mm of rain to accumulate about the ranges, and 80 to 130mm near the coast.
“This rain is expected to cause dangerous river conditions and significant flooding. Slips and floodwaters are likely to disrupt travel, making some roads impassable and possibly isolating communities,” the forecaster said.
For Westland from about Otira northwards, including the Grey River Catchment, periods of rain were expected to continue through to Friday night.
Between 3am and midnight on Friday, Metservice said the area could expect another 150 to 250mm of rain to accumulate near the ranges, and 80 to 120mm near the coast.
Mandatory evacuations remained on the cards for Westport residents. On Thursday afternoon, Civil Defence controller Bob Dickson said emergency teams in Buller were making arrangements in case there was a need for it.
He asked people with friends or family outside of Westport to evacuate if they could easily do so, while there was still safe ways out of the area.
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.
A state of emergency was declared in Buller on Wednesday.
Intense flooding in Westport in July 2021 resulted in widespread damage.
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