He said the last time significant amounts of rain fell was on January 1 and 2, when much of Otago and Southland received enough rain to cause flooding, property damage and road closures. "It’s welcome rain, but you’ll need a lot more to balance the ledger," he said. Federated Farmers Otago president and Lawrence farmer Mark Patterson said that a lot of Otago farmers were starting to struggle. Transpower has been issuing daily updates of its hydro lake levels recently and power storage levels for this time of year are the lowest in a decade. Rather than having a due south-to-north wind flow, which pushed the rain in like we had [on Tuesday], we’re getting a band of rain coming in from the west.

Source: Otago Daily Times May 12, 2021 16:36 UTC