Being shut inside while drinking on a wet New Year's Eve resulted in a lot of domestic violence in Wanganui - and a trail of blood down Victoria Ave in the early hours of yesterday.
Wanganui's fire service was called to hose blood off the footpath after a woman walked away from a broken window at the Stellar Restaurant & Bar, bleeding copiously.
Someone called police and the woman was taken to Wanganui Hospital, where she was admitted and due to have surgery yesterday afternoon.
There was a big crowd at the Stellar bar seeing the new year in, Whanganui Acting Sergeant Paul Miller said. The broken window was on the Victoria Ave side of the bar and has since been fixed.
Police would investigate whether it was a woman who was refused entry who smashed it.
The combination of rain and New Year celebrations made for a very busy weekend for police, Mr Miller said.
There was at least one traffic checkpoint, on Alma Rd, but most of the incidents were domestic violence or disorder at private houses.
"We had a lot of staff on, and they were kept extremely busy through the whole night."
On Saturday a man remanded in custody after an alleged domestic violence incident escaped after his court appearance while the Corrections vehicle he was in was at one end of the Cobham Bridge.
A warrant was issued and he was arrested at a Wanganui address yesterday.
Meanwhile, the 54mm of rain in Wanganui on Saturday gave the fire service a busy morning, with callouts to Francis Rd, Exeter Crescent, Tangi St, Bamber St and London St.
Station officer Gary Wilson said there was some flooding but nothing serious enough for firefighters to pump.
A storehouse for egg containers was briefly flooded at Rasmusen's Poultry Farm in Francis Rd, causing Aaron Rasmusen to head upstream and clear out a creek.
A slip in the seaside settlement of Mowhanau cut vehicle access for 17 residents of Broadview Heights for several hours in the afternoon. Resident Janice Carson said some drivers had a near miss.
"If they had been five or 10 minutes later they would've copped it probably, because you come round a blind corner and it could've been on them before they knew it."
The continuous rain clouds had a silver lining for some. Friday and Saturday were busy days for the Sarjeant Gallery, Whanganui Regional Museum, Splash Centre and Embassy 3 Cinemas as holidaymakers sought indoor enjoyment.
On Friday more than 200 people went to the museum.
There was hardly anyone swimming at Castlecliff Beach on Saturday and yesterday, volunteer Carl Moore said, though the lifeguards stayed on duty.
People took the option to swim indoors instead, with 700 going to the Splash Centre on Saturday.
The same number of people resorted to Embassy 3 Cinemas to watch movies on Friday and Saturday.
The level of the Whanganui River rose swiftly from 1.5m to 5m at Pipiriki during Saturday - but was still well below flood level. Increasing sunshine is predicted for the next few days.