A state of emergency has been declared in New Zealand’s Tasman district after the worst flooding there in decades.
Communities along the coast and in the back country of Golden Bay and Nelson have received up to 420 millimetres of rain during the past 24 hours.
More than 100 people have had to leave their homes and hundreds more are stranded after two days of downpours.
Two tourists had to be rescued from a tree in a swollen river and a dam has burst.
Scores of landslips have cut roads across the region.
The rain is forecast to ease in the south in the next day.
Flooding is now also being reported in the north of the North Island.
