Wild weather which lashed parts of the South Island yesterday has led to flooding and slips, with people waking today to swollen waterways, roads underwater and debris-filled streets.
States of emergency have been declared in Gore, Southland and Queenstown, with some people starting to clean-up.
Water can be seen rushing around the car on a bridge on Glen Lyon Rd. (Source: 1News)
More than 100 people evacuated their homes overnight in Queenstown, with a temporary evacuation centre set up at St Peter's Church.
The town centre is open but caution is urged.
Southland MP Joseph Mooney said although part of the hill near the gondolas had come down, damage was "thankfully" limited.
A "very sticky" mud is covering streets in the resort town's centre. (Source: 1News)
However, the cemetery had "reasonably significant damage".
"A bit of a clean-up job to be done here," he remarked of part of the city centre, which has streets covered in mud.
Given more rain was on the way, he said there would be a "watching brief" on the hill.
Meanwhile, a number of schools and roads remain closed in both Gore and Queenstown, with locals asked to avoid travelling if they can.
Tuatapere's water plant is back in operation via a generator.
Dave Christie of the Queenstown Volunteer Fire Brigade says quite a bit of the cemetery has been taken out (Supplied: Dave Christie). (Source: Supplied)
"The plant still has significant damage but it is up and running," the Southland District Council said.
"To date, the water is safe but please continue to boil your water until further notification."
In Gore, authorities are keeping an eye on river levels, mayor Ben Bell said.
Garston resident Jon Mitchell, who owns a property overlooking the Mataura River, told 1News everyone is feeling "pretty fortunate" following the storm, as things could have been "a lot worse".
He described the area as being covered in silt, with debris on the road.
"It's very dirty. There's clearly a lot of erosion happening in places with silt moving down the stream and settling elsewhere," he said.
"There's a lot of logs that have been picked up then left in places, including on the road, which is causing problems.
"The river's now subsiding steadily, and the surface flooding's going down as well."
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