Wild weather has hit the South Island with emergency services called to flooding and fallen trees, while snow has closed two state highways in Canterbury. Mr Koefoed urged people to stay off the roads if at all possible with heavy rain due to lash the north and west of the South Island. Further south, snow closed State Highway 8 (Twizel to Fairlie) and State Highway 80 (Aoraki/ Mt Cook to Ben Ohau) after midday. "There's a tangle of fronts spiralling out of that low pressure system, which is stationary off the West Coast of the South Island. There may be a brief respite early in the week before a trough approaches the country from the Tasman Sea late on Wednesday.

Source: Otago Daily Times July 01, 2017 01:07 UTC