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Southland residents in flood-affected areas have been told to stay at home tonight and leave only in an emergency.
Many roads are flooded and the District Council says roads are becoming impassable more quickly than they can be checked.
The area has been inundated with rain for three days, forcing
road closures and the evacuation of more than 100 trampers.
Water is running into some buildings in Winton, and firefighters and Fulton Hogan contractors are trying to drain water from streets in the town.
Indications are that the water level on the Oreti River will reach its maximum tonight in Winton.
The river's peak will reach Wallacetown - just upstream from Invercargill - at around 8am tomorrow.
Environment Southland Incident Controller Ken Swinney says the level of water flow coming down the Oreti River is being monitored and he is hopeful there won't be too much more flooding.
Mr Swinney says there is still a risk of flooding in some areas until 10am tomorrow.
Massive rainfall
More than 700mm of rain during the past three days has flooded the Milford Track, north of Te Anau.
Phone communications were cut to 2000 people in Te Anau after the Whitestone River, south of the town, broke its banks and disrupted a main network connection.
However this evening Telecom Chorus technicians had restored residents ability to make 111 calls.
Rescue for trampers underway
As flood waters increased this afternoon, a rescue began for 120 trampers on the Milford Track, who had spent the past two nights inside huts.
The Department of Conservation said food had run low after two nights, forcing an evacuation.
Trampers were being flown off the track by helicopter and taken to the head of Lake Te Anau, from where they were to be evacuated.
Trampers at one hut just an hours walk into the track were unable to walk out, with one bridge already confirmed as washed away and many rivers flooding.
Others on the Routeburn Track continued to hunker down in huts.
Programme manager Ross Kerr said rain monitoring data coming in was "off the scale".
The area had flooded in late March, and almost two metres of rain had fallen since then, he said.
Flood waters wreak havoc
About 150mm in the rest of the region in two days have caused water to overflow from rivers, drenching farmland and roads.
The New Zealand Transport Agency said six state highways - SH 94, 97, 96, 98, 6 and 99 - were at risk from the flooding, with SH 97 closed until further updates in the evening.
Environment Southland duty flood warning officer Karl Erikson said every river in the region was affected.
The Aparima and Oreti Rivers, which flow towards Invercargill, were still rising in the headwaters, Mr Erikson said.
"Swathes of farmland in the Te Anau Basin are already underwater, with extensive damage to fences and other infrastructure," said the council in a statement.
Almost 140mm of rain fell in the region last night, with up to another today, according to the Metservice.
People were advised not to travel out of town unless they had to, said Environment Southland spokeswoman Michele Poole.
Town were not expected to be affected, she said.
"The region's flood protection schemes are designed to cope with this level of rain by spilling over their banks in the upper reaches so flooding of farmland is to be expected," Mr Erikson said.
