Southland's Civil Defence emergency operations centre was activated.

State Highway 95 between Manapouri and Te Anau was open but there was surface flooding in some parts.

State Highway 94 between Mossburn and Te Anau was closed at Whitestone and the Key on the 26th.

State Highway 97 between Five Rivers and Mossburn was closed.

There were warnings in place for State Highway 6 between Kingston and Athol because of surface flooding.

The Blackmount Redcliff Road was closed on the 26th.

Roads closed on the morning of the 27th were West Plains Road at both Waikiwi River and the Makarewa River, Gropers Bush-Thornbury Road, Otautau-Riverton Road at Aparima River, Oporo Flat Road, Anderson Road at Otapiri and Rakahouka-Hedgehope Road. Also closed were North Makarewa Grove Bush Road, Affleck Road, Lowther Road, Ellis Road, Felton Road, Roy Road, Counsell Road, Lora Gorge Road in Winton, Nokomai Road, and Cainard Road in the Garston area, Kakapo Road from Dales Road, Waikouro-Wairio Road and Dipton South Hillend Road. Caution was advised on McKenzie Road near Winton and Sutton Road in Glencoe.

In the Tanner and Hokonui School Road area there was flooding in the low areas across the road.

Some Southland rivers wre running as high as five metres above normal flows. Most of Southland's major rivers peaked without significant problems.

Hundreds of bales of feed were swept away. This was expected to be very costly for farmers.

There were no stock losses reported.

Thousands of hectares of Southland farmland could be under water for more than a week.

Hamilton Burn, a tributary of the Aparima River, exceeded its highest recorded level.

South Hillend Road was closed (between Hundred Line East Road and Benmore Road).

A Dipton resident said water from the Oreti River was lapping at the wall of her house on the 27th.

There was only one report of a bank being breached by floodwaters and that was the Oreti River near Dipton.

120 trampers were evacuated from the Milford Track by helicopter. The trampers , 40 at three separate huts, had spent two nights safely inside huts but food was running low, prompting the evacuation.

One small bridge downstream of Mintaro Hut was washed away.

High river levels throughout the Wakatipu area meant the Routeburn, Greenstone-Caples and Rees-Dart tracks were closed at 8:30am on the 26th. At the time of closure, hut wardens held 22 trampers at the Routeburn Falls, Mid Caples anf Dart huts.

Mataura River peaked on the afternoon of the 27th at just over 2.3 metres above normal at Gore.

The surrounding land was flooded.

About 4000 ha was underwater west of Invercargill on the 27th as the Taramoa Pond filled with floodwater from the surrounding rivers.

One farmer who leased 66 ha within the Taramoa Pond said his land was under water except for about three hectares.

Four dairy farm workers had to evacuate their rented farmhouse in Lowther Road (12 km north of Lumsden) when floodwater started to flow through their house. On parts of the farm floodwaters were over the top of the fences.

The Oreti River at Lumsden was only 10 cm from the top of the stopbanks.

Oreti River at Three Kings (between Te Anau and Lumsden) was nearly 2 m above normal and rising at a rate of 105 mm per hour on the morning of the 26th.

At 6am on the 26th the Mataura River was nearly 2 m above normal at Fairlight, and rising at a rate of 140 mm per hour.

The flow of the Mararoa River at Weir Road near Manapouri rose from 50 cumecs to more than 800 cumecs.

Mararoa River flooded the road.

The surrounding land was flooded.

Holidaymakers were stranded in Milford Sound on the 25th after torrential rain forced the closer of the Milford road.

The visibility on the road was almost zero and there was water across the road in some parts.

At Falls Creek, the river was 5-6 m above normal.

In some places the river was going over bridges.

There was some surface flooding.

Farmland in the Te Anau Basin was underwater and there is extensive damage to fences and other infrastructure.

Roads and bridges were affected in the Te Anau area. A number of rural roads were closed.

Blackmount Redcliff Road was the only route open to and from Te Anau on the 27th..

Upukerora Road, Ramparts Road and Golf Course Road was closed.

Flooding affected phone services for about 2000 Te Anau residents but this was restored at 7:30pm on the 26th. The Telecom fibre-optic connection out of Te Anau was severed at 1:30pm when part of the road near Whitestone Bridge was washed away. Telecom's two mobile sites were also affected.

The river broke its banks and took out a portion of the road.

Civil Defence staff and police put several landowners downstream of Winton on standby. Their properties had been threatened in the 1999 floods.