Flooding in Christchurch after Ōpāwaho Heathcote River burst its banks. Photo: RNZ/Marika Hill
The state of emergency put in place due to flooding and storm damage has been lifted in Christchurch but will remain in place for Banks Peninsula.
Christchurch mayor Phil Mauger said some problems remained in Banks Peninsula which needed to be monitored.
"We've still got a few issues with land movement and possible slips, some of them may not come to light for another two or three days we're just keeping an eye on it," he said.
"We've got a wee issue also with a bit of sewage was overflowing because one of the pumps had a bit of problem but that's all been fixed so we're just monitoring that as well."
Mauger said things had settled down in Christchurch.
"There's still some wet spots, there's still people who have got water in their backyard and stuff, but we've got to remember the size of the event," he said.
"The rivers have dropped considerably, all it needs is half a dozen high and low tides with no rain and that just quietly gets rid of it all."
Lifting the state of emergency in Banks Peninsula would be assessed this week.
'Very saturated land'
On Sunday morning, Christchurch remained in a state of emergency, with the council saying there was still "some very saturated land" across the district but the state of emergency was lifted at 1pm.
In an update posted on the Christchurch City Council website on Saturday evening, the council said there were still concerns about land stability and the potential for further slips, despite fine weather helping to dry things out.
"The decision has been made not to lift the state of emergency for Christchurch and Banks Peninsula," it said, but that would be reassessed on Sunday.
The council said geotechnical engineers had been out checking on land damage, with monitoring equipment now onsite at Lighthouse Road in Akaroa to monitor for land movement. So far, there had been no significant change.
The majority of roads across Christchurch were now open. State Highway 75, which reconnected Banks Peninsula with the rest of the region, reopened on Saturday afternoon, but some smaller roads across the peninsula remained closed.
Roads still closed include Empire Road from Main North Road, Lower Styx Road from number 980 to the lagoon, Hendersons Road, and Cashmere Road.
Hendersons and Cashmere roads were affected by the managed release of water from the stormwater basins - and the council said Cashmere Road would hopefully reopen on Sunday.
However, Hendersons Road would remain closed for at least another couple of day as water was released into the Heathcote River.
In Akaroa, the council was working to resolve issues with the wastewater system.
"Unfortunately our attempts to repair the main have not been successful," it said on Saturday evening.
Therefore, the focus was on temporary pumping to limit discharge into the harbour. Contractors would be onsite again on Sunday.
In the meantime, Akaroa residents were asked to continue to limit demand on the wastewater system.
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