Isolated Marlborough communities wary of more rain

More rain is expected to fall in Marlborough on Thursday evening, with emergency management teams wary of the damage it may cause to the already-devastated region.

The rain predicted to fall across the Wairau Plain is 10mm while between 10-50mm is expected in the upper Richmond Ranges.

It comes after heavy rain last week left 29 homes red stickered and 48 more yellow stickered in the region. A red sticker means the property is unsafe to enter while yellow signifies there has been some damage.

Civil Defence Emergency Management Controller Dean Heiford says with the ground already saturated any rain can have a significant impact.

In the Marlborough Sounds, the only way out is by boat with several slips having blocked the roads, isolating residents. The damage to roads is so severe that some residents can't even get to barge sites to secure essential supplies.

For many, it's deja vu, having still been recovering from a major storm a year ago before last week's barrage of rain.

Marlborough District Mayor John Leggatt said the latest storm was even worse than the flood a year ago.

"There's extensive roading damage in other parts of the sounds that weren't so affected last time," Leggatt said.

"There's a lot of isolated communities down the sounds at the moment."