Civil Defence on alert in Waitaki

Civil Defence is keeping a wary eye on weather conditions in North Otago's Waitaki District following last month's heavy flooding.

Heavy rain and snow has been forecast for the rest of today as a strong cold southerly flow moves across the region.

Heavy rain was likely for North Otago up to mid-afternoon today and for Canterbury until tonight while heavy snow was possible to about 500 metres through to this evening.Waitaki Civil Defence spokesman Chris Raine told NZPA the effect of further heavy rain was complicated by past flooding.

There had been 27mm of rain up to 9am today plus another 10-12mm since then.

"The problem is the catchments are saturated and there is no capacity to absorb any more rain," Mr Raine said.

Civil Defence was monitoring the situation closely as river levels began to rise.

Heavy rain and flooding isolated parts of North Otago last month causing road closures, slips and millions of dollars worth of damage.

- NZPA