‘Worst in 30 years’: Banks Peninsula largely cut off, told to conserve water after rain hammers region
Tuesday, 17 February 2026
Schools are closed, roads and properties are flooded, and a boil water notice is in place as heavy rain causes flooding on Banks Peninsula.
Wainui resident Lawrence Smith, who lives on Jubilee Rd, says floodwaters are rushing down his road, the stream has turned into a “raging torrent” and taken out the bridge, cutting off the community from help.
“We’re currently sitting on 313mm [of rain] in 36 hours since Monday night.”
Banks Peninsula has borne the brunt of heavy rain that has pelted the east coast of the South Island since Monday. Dozens of local roads are closed due to flooding and slips; residents have been urged to conserve water; hundreds were without power, State Highway 75/Christchurch Akaroa Rd closed with Little River inundated by flooding, schools shut, trees came down, and the council said there was “widespread flooding” in Akaroa.
MetService’s orange heavy rain warning is in place for Banks Peninsula until 6pm on Tuesday.
Banks Peninsula MP Vanessa Weenink said the storm looked worse than last year’s, and hoped measures were in place to evacuate medically vulnerable people via helicopter. “It’s pretty terrible,” she said.
The Christchurch City Council said it was monitoring Banks Peninsula water supplies. People could use water for drinking, cooking and hygiene but it urged people to delay non-essential washing and laundry - and report any leaks in the water system.
Smith said trees and slips had covered the roads around Wainui, but the rural community was prepared for the worst.
“We’re lucky. Like a lot of people in rural situations we have solar power and a battery, we have good power, we’ve got a starlink connection, and we have freezers full of food.”
His neighbour had walked “several kilometres” through the floodwaters with his dogs for a coffee and a catch up, Smith said.
The council announced a boil water notice for Wainui just after 10am after flooding damaged the local water infrastructure. “Until we can fully assess what has happened and confirm that the water remains safe, the notice will stay in place.”
The notice was extended to Little River at 2.30pm due to extensive flooding and overflowing septic tanks reducing the capacity and availability of the water treatment system.
The notice was a public health precaution as staff could not guarantee water quality.
Schools and roads closed across Banks Peninsula
Flooding closed Charteris Bay Rd (from Andersons Rd to Teddington) and Gebbies Pass Rd (from SH75 to Teddington); while fallen trees closed Teddington Rd in Governors Bay (on the Teddington side of Allandale). A slip has come down near Lake Forsyth/Te Roto o Wairewa, which remains at a high level.
Fire and Emergency NZ received more than a dozen weather-related events overnight - most from Little River, Diamond Harbour, Akaroa and Governors Bay. Those included road flooding, a small slip on the Christchurch side of Little River, and trees down. They expected more today.
Akaroa’s local cop, Senior Constable Anita Osborne, who is on annual leave, was posting on Facebook trying to share information with her community.
Akaroa, Duvauchelle, Okains and Little River schools are closed, she said in the post.
“Very distressing time for Little river residents - it looks like Western Valley Rd has been horrendous.
“If you’ve been flooded: take heaps of photos for your insurer. You can start clean up (once we get to the other side of this) and give them a call when you can.”
Marae extend manaakitanga to communities
Former chairperson of Te Rūnanga o Koukourarata and current Te Tai Tonga Labour nominee Mananui Ramsden said local Papatipu Rūnanga (Ōnuku, Koukourarata, Rāpaki, Wairewa, Taumutu) were working to assess the weather’s impact on their communities around the peninsula.
People were already been sheltered at Rāpaki Marae, and sandbags at Ōnuku Marae, just east of Akaroa, were holding floodwaters at bay for now, he said.
In May last year, Ōnuku Marae was hit badly in the flooding, with water and mud pouring into its wharekai (dining area and kitchen).
While not official advice, Ramsden said all Papatipu Rūnanga were armed with generators, emergency pods filled with water, food and resources. Marae were there for anyone and everyone who needed help.
Power out
More than 1000 properties across Banks Peninsula lost power, according to the current outages reported on the Orion website, about half of which had been restored.
Many had remained without power for much of the day, in Little River, Okuti Valley, Ahururi, Birdlings Flat and Port Levy.
Surface flooding in Christchurch city
In Christchurch city, surface flooding started to hit low-lying areas, such as Beckenham, St Martins and Opawa.
How much rain has fallen?
It was raining along nearly the entire east coast of the South Island on Tuesday, from south of Dunedin to the south of Blenheim, MetService forecaster Silvia Martimo said. Meanwhile, the West Coast was fine apart from some high cloud.
Since Monday, 278.6mm of rain fell in Akaroa, while about 40mm to 60mm fell in Christchurch city.
“Particularly heavy rain” hit the region about 4am to 6am on Tuesday, Martimo said.
Christchurch city received 11mm to 16mm of rain an hour - double what is considered as “heavy” (which is 6mm or more an hour).
In the first seven-and-half hours of Tuesday, 67.5mm of rain was recorded on the southeastern side of Lyttelton Harbour, which was “quite a lot of rain”, Martimo said.
Kaikōura was hit with more rain overnight Sunday into Monday than it typically receives in the entire month of February, after 48.8mm fell.
Road closures
SH75 is closed from Tai Tapu to Akaroa
Teddington Road is closed - Allandale side of Governors Bay
Charteris Bay Road is closed from Andersons Road to Teddington
Gebbies Pass Road is closed from SH75 to Teddington
All low lying roads in Little River are impassible due to flooding
Prices Valley Road is closed
Kinloch Road is closed
Reynolds Valley Road is closed
Jubilee Road is closed from Wainui Main Road to Bossu Road
Wainui Main Road is closed from Bossy Road
Millers Road is closed from SH75 to Gebbies Pass Road
The NZ Transport Agency urged people to check the Journey Planner site before attempting to travel.