One person has been killed and many homes have been flooded after torrential rain poured across New Zealand. The two days of excessive rain led to whole communities being cut-off, and triggered several landslips.

One of these landslips crushed a home in Kaiteriteri, in the northwest of South Island, which killed its resident. The city of Christchurch was hit by 61mm of rain in just one day, which is more than the average rainfall expected in the entire month of June.
Several roads were forced to close and some residents were being advised to boil their tap water before drinking it. The downpours are now easing, and although there will be more showers in the next 24 hours, there are no weather warnings currently in force.
Instead, the cause for concern is the weather that will arrive on Wednesday and spread throughout the country by the end of Thursday. Wintry weather looks set to replace the flooding rains.
The polar blast will bring heavy snow to much of the South Island. This will create more problems for travellers, particularly those trying to navigate the Alpine routes and higher-level roads.
Blizzards are expected to continue across many parts of the South Island on Thursday and Friday. The areas likely to be worst hit are the south and the east, where snow is even expected to fall at lower levels.
The cold blast is expected to cover the entire country and although Auckland is expected to avoid the snow, the maximum temperature in the city will struggle to just 10C.

Source: Al Jazeera