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Several roads are closed and warnings are in places on many others as the South continues to feel the effects of the wild weather.

A bridge has been washed out on Lake Ohau Rd near Twizel, and there is flooding on some stretches of highways and a raft of other roads.

The Waitaki District Council advises that Lake Ohau Road is closed about 300m from State Highway 8 as a result of the washout.

"We will need to build a temporary road which will take time.  Lake Ohau village and the lodge are currently cut off and Civil Defence is now responding.

"The washout at Ohau Rd is a priority and Civil Defence continues to support residence and visitors who are cut off."

The council this afternoon said Civil Defence had been in touch with village and lodge representatives, and confirmed that both telecommunications and power were available.

Norm Mackay, who has lived in Lake Ohau for 30 years, told RNZ he's never seen so much rain in such a short period of time.

The bridge washout on Lake Ohau Rd on Tuesday morning. Photo: Supplied

He says there's a 30 to 40-foot gap between one side of the bridge and the other, with a raging torrent in between.

Mackay says it's not clear how long everyone will be stuck.

Lake Ohau Lodge owner Mike Neilson said 130 people were stranded there on Tuesday night.

"The village is mostly people that are staying in holiday homes so they're not too fussed at the moment, I guess when it's time to get back to work, that's when they'll be more concerned," he said.

To make matters worse, snow has begun falling in Twizel, Lake Tekapo and on some high country Mackenzie District roads this evening.

The Mackenzie District Council said the snow would compound roading issues by making it more difficult for repair crews to access and assess damage caused by the flooding. 

Floodwaters hit Omarama Top 10 Holiday Park hard. Photo: Supplied They urged people in the region to be patient. 

"This is a very wide-spread complex weather event and has presented our staff and contractors with a series of significant issues to deal with."

RNZ earlier reported that some properties in the Waitaki District were evacuated overnight, including the Top 10 Holiday Park in Omarama. 

Sergeant Blair Wilkinson, of Oamaru, said the holiday park was evacuated at 11.20pm yesterday by Fire and Emergency New Zealand and police, in consultation with Civil Defence.

Holiday Park owner Erwin Beiboer said about 60 people were evacuated from the camp, in Omarama Ave. Many guests, including his family, stayed at the Heritage Gateway Hotel across the road.

The flooding entered the park from the road side, not from the river, Mr Beiboer said.

"Within two or three minutes the whole park was basically under water," he said.

Flooding at Galloway near Alexandra today. Photo: Shannon Thomson

As of 9.30am today water was still flowing into the park. 

He would inspect the to the units this morning but the extent of any damage would not be known until the water receded.

The support from the community had been great, he said.

Properties alongside the Omarama Stream had to be evacuated as the stream jumped its usual course and began flowing through the lower-lying areas, the Omarama Gazette Facebook page said.

Local volunteer firefighter Richard Jopson told RNZ water had been flowing down a couple of streets in Otematata like a stream this morning.

He said about four houses had water going through them and locals worked to save other properties last night.

"One of the residents ... had water lapping at the side of his brand new house and a whole lot of locals banded together and got a digger in and dug a big trench through a paddock, and we managed to divert quite a bit of water."

Waitaki mayor Gary Kircher said the rain hit Omarama and Otematata hardest.

"The disruption and devastation from the weather events of the past couple of days has been significant, and more than many were expecting," Mr Kircher said.

People on the towns' water supplies have been advised by the district council to boil and conserve all drinking water until further notice. This includes water used for food preparation and hygiene purposes such as brushing teeth. 

The Otago Weather Updates Facebook page reports there are large rocks on State Highway 83 by Aviemore "where the bank has turned to slurry and continued rockfall likely".

State Highways 8 and 83 will stay closed overnight with the next update not until Wednesday at noon. 

The highway is closed from Omarama to Kurow owing to flooding, and Waka Kotahi says the Lindis Pass (SH8), Haast Pass (SH6), and the Aoraki/Mt Cook Highway (SH80) are also closed, the latter due to a large slip at Whale Creek. 

The Milford Rd (SH94) was also closed but reopened Tuesday afternoon. 

Waka Kotahi confirmed Lindis Pass, Aoraki/Mt Cook Highway and Haast Pass would remain closed overnight. 

State Highway 6 between Lake Hawea and Haast is closed due to fallen trees and flooding.

Aspiring Highways said a "couple of diggers had been sent up to clear the road", due to rock slips, flooding and surface water.

Travel between Makarora and Hawea is currently restricted to Makarora residents only.

Residents driving SH6 have been advised to be cautious due to surface water and rockslips along the road.

The Central Otago District Council has several road closures in force in the Maniototo and urges drivers to watch out for surface flooding.

The Manuherekia River peaked at Ophir during the afternoon and is expected to peak at Alexandra tonight. 

The council early this afternoon advised residents in the Ophir, Ida Valley and Galloway areas to head home, saying they were expecting rivers to keep rising and alternate routes to those areas were lengthy if Ophir Bridge Rd and Galloway Rd had to be closed. In an update after 2pm the council said Galloway Rd (Galloway Bridge to Fisher Lane) was closed due to flooding.

Conserve water notices are in place for Omakau and Ophir. The CODC said the towns' supplies were operating on stored water in the reservoirs, and the source water was currently too dirty to treat due to high river levels. 

In Canterbury, a TranzAlpine train with 248 passengers on board was at a standstill for more than two hours last night after a tree blocked the track.

A passenger on the route, which was travelling from Greymouth to Christchurch, said a tree had fallen between the Springfield and Darfield stations.

He said they were stranded for about two hours when the train stopped about 6.40pm on Monday, but the people in his carriage were in good spirits.

"The stationary train is being rocked by the wind," he said.

The passenger said the train was originally due to arrive in Christchurch at 7pm.

A KiwiRail spokesperson said crews cleared the track and the train got under way again shortly before 9.30pm.

Emergency services were kept busy yesterday by a spate of wild weather which prompted callouts across the South Island.

Weather warnings issued by the MetService on Sunday were borne out as severe winds caused aircraft to be turned around in flight yesterday.

Across both Otago and Canterbury, trees were felled by gale gusts, in many cases across highways and other roads.

Drivers in inland Canterbury were warned of dust clouds affecting visibility, while lightning storms lashed Queenstown and Wanaka, with heavy rain also affecting Alexandra.

Flooding affected some roads in Mackenzie Country last night.

Skifields across the South Island, including Cardrona and Treble Cone, were forced to close for the day due to strong winds and poor visibility.

In the Young Valley catchment, near Wanaka, the Department of Conservation issued a Code Red warning and closed the area, due to fears of a potential dam burst.

The Haast Pass was closed due to fallen trees, as was State Highway94 because of the risk of avalanches.

Wind gusts of 107kmh were recorded by the MetService at Dunedin Airport yesterday morning.

Airport business development general manager Megan Crawford said eight arrivals and eight departures had been cancelled by late afternoon, with another three departures and four arrivals still to have their status confirmed.

The high winds damaged a fence, window and a billboard at the airport, Ms Crawford said.

Brockville resident Anne Smither was also affected by high winds.

Her trampoline had been staked to ground but she saw it go flying towards a neighbour’s house.

Worried it would land on their car, she tried to pull it back from the adjacent property.

A gust of wind caught it and she was hit on the head and her back was "a wee bit" sore.

Fire and Emergency New Zealand Dunedin City Station Senior Station Officer Mark Leonard said firefighters had been busy with lots of calls, particularly about damage to roofing, powerlines and trees, caused by the "incredibly strong" winds.

A shipping container lies at a precarious angle behind the Warren Lewis fishing wharf at Port Chalmers yesterday. PHOTO: STEPHEN JAQUIERY Port Otago chief executive Kevin Winders said a big gust of wind had resulted in some containers falling over about 3pm.

No-one had been hurt, but it had caused a bit of a mess and the clean-up operation would begin today, Mr Winders said.

The wild weather had also affected the ability of pilot boats to operate safely and bring larger vessels into port. However, the impact had been minimal as there had been a light shipping schedule, he said.

A Dunedin City Council spokesman said contractors were kept busy clearing fallen trees, branches and debris.

A native kanuka tree was blown over at the Dunedin Botanic Garden and there was some wind damage to the printed scrim covering the Dunedin Railway Station, which would be repaired, the spokesman said.

The council had eight road closure notices in effect last night, largely due to blockages caused by wind.

A protected red beech tree which blew down due to high winds in Highgate near Columba College, in Dunedin, yesterday. PHOTO: GREGOR RICHARDSON Highgate resident Maurice Mitchell said the first he knew about the protected red beech tree in his front yard falling down was when a firefighter knocked on his door.

The tree caused damage to a shed and blocked a lane in Highgate.

There was a strong smell of gas in the area, which he believed was due to an old gas line running on the side of the road, which emergency services were working to locate, he said.

--  oscar.francis@odt.co.nz/additional reporting ODT Online/Kayla Hodge

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