Emergency hubs are operating at the Croydon Lodge in Gore, the Mataura Community Centre and Otautau Sport Centre.
MetService has issued a heavy rain warning for parts of Tasman and Westland and the Canterbury and Otago lakes headwaters.
A heavy snow warning is also in place for Canterbury and the Mackenzie Country.
Meteorologist Andrew James says it’s due to a mixture of cold air and heavy rain
TWIZEL BLAZE CONTAINED
Firefighters continue to battle the blaze near Twizel.
Fire crews have largely confined the blaze at Pukaki Downs, but it’s still burning.
A blaze in the same location ripped through the area for 12 days in August 2020.
Incident controller Stephen Butler says changing winds are proving troublesome
AUCKLAND STREET BRAWL
One person has been critically injured during an incident in South Auckland overnight.
Police were called to a brawl in Ōtara at around 10 o’clock last night.
A section of Matamata Place has since been cordoned off while an investigation is carried out.
AUCKLAND AIRPORT DELAYS
Auckland Airport is gearing up for its busiest day of the school holiday period.
15,000 people are expected to leave tomorrow, and they’re just the ones heading overseas.
It follows the airport recently coming under fire from disgruntled overseas arrivals, over Customs wait times.
Chief customer officer Scott Tasker says while it takes an average of 30 minutes to get from an international flight and into public arrivals, current delays at peak times are unacceptable.
VICTORIA UNIVERSITY JOB CUTS
Victoria University job cuts are being labelled short-sighted.
The uni has confirmed a net loss of 194 roles, with some disestablished, some merged, and some left vacant.
It’s estimated this will mean around 140 redundancies.
Six programmes will be axed - Italian, Greek, Latin, Geophysics, Geographic Information Science, and Physical Geography.
Tertiary Education Union branch president Dougal McNeill says it’s heartbreaking.
