A whitebaiter feared he was about to drown when a flash flood swamped his caravan and vehicle in the Taramakau River bed early this morning.

Days of rain and floods have transformed the outdoorsy mountain communities in Colorado's Rocky Mountain foothills affectionately known as the "Gore-Tex Vortex" from a paradise into a disaster area.

As people came down from the flooded foothills of the Colorado Rockies, they brought tales of dramatic rescues and heartbreaking loss.

Rescuers rushed by land and by air to evacuate Colorado residents stranded by epic mountain flooding as debris-filled rivers became muddy seas.

Following on from the flooding in Europe, India and Canada are now both suffering from the loss of life and property.

Floodwaters have "scoured" rural roads across Otago, as the region struggles to cope with the aftermath of the worst flooding in decades.

Snow forecast for later this week will be just the icing on the cake for Wanaka skifields.

There will be a brief reprieve today for towns cleaning up from yesterday's floods as they prepare for the threat of "blizzard conditions" later this week.

Snow could reach as far north as Coromandel and the Kaimai Ranges later this week as a huge winter storm looks set to batter the country.

Another slip caused a home to be evacuated early this morning in the Tasman district, just 12 hours after a woman was killed in her house by a landslide.

Police have released the name of the woman who died when a landslide engulfed her home near Kaiteriteri yesterday afternoon.

A "cold snap" later this week would bring "rain with snow to basically sea level for eastern areas of the South Island and low levels about Wellington and the North Island's east coast plus central areas to boot," said WeatherWatch.co.nz.

Residents were evacuated from their Titirangi Beach home after a landslide took a tree through the roof during a busy afternoon yesterday for emergency services.

Rescue crews believe they heard cries for help from a woman trapped in her home after it was destroyed by a landslip in the Tasman region this afternoon.

After flooding in the Bay of Plenty, Auckland and Hamilton, Nelson has become the latest region to be hit by the wild weekend weather.

The changing climate will increase security threats to Australia, including the possible collapse of fragile states in the region and resource wars, a new report has warned.

Swift-water rescue teams saved 16 children after their bus was trapped by flash flooding in southern Brisbane in a huge storm dumping heavy rain on southeast Queensland.

Two people have died, a newborn baby and other children helicoptered to safety and over 20 people have been rescued in severe weather and flooding across NSW. An evacuation order is now in place for residents of Kempsey on the NSW mid-north coast.

It was not a pleasant sight: as the city's ageing sewerage system failed to cope, streets filled with murky grey water that smelled and looked as if it was heavily polluted with raw sewage.