It takes heavy rain in the Alps to flood Canterbury's main rivers in situations where the plains are sheltered by the mountains and get no (or very little) rain, like in the present situation.Interesting to see the rakaia mouth flooded yesterday. A conbination of high tide and heavy rinfall in the catchment, wonder if it flooded again today with the NW still persistent about canterbry.
I know heavy rain is more normal in Westland, Fiordland and the Alps than elsewhere in NZ, but those areas seem to be in a particularly wet spell at present, so rivers must be running high. This situation brings my mind back to the Civil Defence simulation program on TV1 not too long ago, when the scenario for Chch was the Waimakariri breaking its banks and flooding the city. However, this would obviously need a much more extreme and prolonged northwesterly storm.