Flooding hits Nelson city

Workers on Vanguard St have used vehicles and cones to block the road to stop people driving through flood waters that have inundated the street.

Nelson city has been hit with flash floods as rain continues to fall with Fire and Emergency receiving 20 calls for help in just over an hour.

While Metservice says the worst is over, and rain is moving away, parts of the city have been inundated with water after heavy rain fell for much of the morning.

Steve Armour, who has worked on Vanguard St for 16 years, says he has never encountered flooding like this in the area.

"People were driving down here creating massive waves that went [into other stores], Top of the South Service Centre is submerged in 200-300mm of water and it's lapping at the doorway of the SPCA store," he says.

He says they had to "swear at a few idiots" driving at speed through the flood waters and creating "massive waves", exacerbating the issues for local businesses.

It was then that he and other business owners from the street used their own vehicles and cones to block off each end of the road.

Fire and Emergency New Zealand is currently responding to a large number of flooding incidents in central Nelson caused by heavy rainfall.

Southern Communications Centre shift manager Lyn Crossan says there have been more than 20 incidents reported since 10.15am this morning, most of them in the area between Washington Street and Bishopdale.

"We are prioritising the most urgent incidents first, where there is danger to people’s safety," she says. "However, the majority of incidents relate to floodwaters entering property.

"We are strongly advising people to avoid travelling to or through that area this morning."

Rutherford Street is closed between Bridge St and Hardy St while contractors assess an open manhole. All eBus services are currently suspended while the eBus team assess the flooding. Please check the live tracker to asses if your service is running.

There are reports of manhole covers lifting along Rutherford St and Waimea Rd, due to the sheer volume of water passing through the stormwater network, and parts of Toi Toi are under water. All local sports fields are closed.

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