Greymouth has been flooded after the West Coast region was hammered by rain following a period of drought.
And it is only going to get worse with WeatherWatch predicting another 100mm of rain for the region.
"Despite news of droughts being made official in more places today the heavy rain is too much of a good thing with flooding occurring," WeatherWatch said.
The rain is still welcome for the Buller and Grey districts, which were added to the list of drought-hit areas earlier this week.
A heavy rainfall warning is in place for the Buller district through to Friday morning, with up to 130mm expected to fall on top of what’s already fallen in the area, MetService forecaster Cameron Coutts said.
Meanwhile in Westland, from Franz Josef northwards, there has been plenty of wet weather, with 78mm falling at Hokitika since Wednesday morning.
The rain will be a relief for farmers who have been struggling with the dry weather, but the rain might be too late for some.
"I think (the rain’s) come too late for Buller, but it will help with getting things growing – it’s been dry for some time – it’s certainly going to help," Mr Coutts said.
On the other side of the South Island, Canterbury has been experiencing steady rainfall since Wednesday morning.
Christchurch has seen it’s average rainfall of 40mm for the month fall in just two days, with 45mm reported at the airport.

Authorities are counting on precipitation in February and the following months to boost water levels in dams as the country has experienced a relative warm spell.
In Istanbul, the country’s most populated city, water levels in dams is on average 65.9 percent.
A drought will be of particular concern for the southeast, which has an arid climate and has had little precipitation up until January.
Speaking to Habertürk daily, meteorologist Orhan Şen said Turkey is in the middle of an obvious drought, but precipitation predicted for February and March would help water levels recover the losses.
Ahmet Ersin Gökçe, director of a water authority in Şanlıurfa, an agriculture hub in southeastern Turkey, said that the region goes through dry periods but they have enough water reserves, pointing to Atatürk Dam, a main water source for the region that currently holds about 41 billion cubic meters of water.
Speaking to Anadolu Agency (AA), Gökçe said the dam is key for the irrigation of the vast agricultural land in the southeast.
"We predict 4 billion cubic meters of water use next year and our reserves are sufficient for another year.
Still, we advise farmers to act cautiously and use water-saving methods in irrigation," he said.
Çaygören, a dam in Balıkesir that contributes to irrigation of thousands of acres of land, also saw a drop in water levels, but the local authority overseeing the dam said in a statement that the levels are predicted to rise again in the upcoming irrigation season with a forecast of precipitation from February to May.
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A water company has applied for a drought permit amid flood alerts and following days of heavy rain.
Southern Water said ‘exceptionally low rainfall’ has prompted its decision to ask the Environment Agency for permission to pump water from Kent rivers to top up Bewl Water reservoir near Tunbridge Wells.
It comes as five flood alerts are in force in the county, some of which warn of rising river levels in Maidstone and Eden Brook after heavy rain on Wednesday and Thursday, according to the Environment Agency.
It has been consistently wet in the area near Bewl over the last week, the Met Office said.
There was 11.2mm of rain in 24 hours on December 29 according to weather station data collected near Bewl, a spokeswoman said.
There was another 10.4mm on December 30, 8.8mm on December 31, 6.2mm on Monday, 10mm on Tuesday and 9.2mm on Thursday.
On its website, Southern Water said: ‘Following exceptionally low rainfall during winter 2016-17 and during October and November 2017, Bewl currently holds less than 43% of its maximum 31,000 million litres capacity.
Bewl Water was at 38% capacity on December 28 after a dry winter where there was only 77% rainfall, according to the latest published records.
This would be a short-term measure with water taken in the winter to have less of an environmental impact.
Showers were anticipated across Kent on Friday but the rain is expected to die down towards the weekend when it is due to turn colder, a Met Office spokeswoman said.

It’s been almost a year since Los Angeles residents felt any real rain, and precious little snow is in the Sierras, but water managers say it’s too early for fears that California is sliding back into drought as abruptly as the state fell out of it.
Plunging rods into snowpacks to measure the snow depth, water managers use the event to acquaint Californians with the state of the water supply.
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Southern California wildfires that grew to the biggest in state history in December – normally the rainy season in California – already have made clear the bottom line: The state is far drier than normal so far this winter.
Near-record rainfall last year unleashed widespread flooding and snapped a historic five-year drought.
People in California’s southwest last felt any significant rain in February, the National Weather Service noted this week.
Snowpack in the Sierras, which supplies a steady flow of water in good years as the snow melts, stood Tuesday at one-fourth of normal for this point in the year.
And it’s early in the winter rainy season yet – California normally receives half its rain between December and February.

California and National Drought Summary for January 2, 2018 Summary January 4, 2018 – During the 7-day period (ending Tuesday morning), bitterly cold, mostly dry weather prevailed across the nation.
Farther south, Moderate Drought (D1) was expanded from northeastern Pennsylvania into central Maryland; 90-day precipitation in these locales has totaled less than 70 percent of normal, and groundwater levels continued to drop (25th percentile or lower in many reporting locations).
Rainfall over the past 60 days averaged less than 50 percent of normal from central Alabama into central and northern Virginia, while 90-day totals have totaled 30 to 60 percent of normal from central North Carolina up to the Potomac River Basin.
Moderate to Severe Drought (D1 and D2) were reintroduced to locales in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Arkansas where 90-day rainfall was 60 percent of normal or less and subsequent streamflows — which exhibited short-term recovery after late-December rain — resumed a sharp downward trend.
Midwest Bitter cold weather prevailed with a moderate to deep snowpack covering all but southern portions of the region.
There were no changes made to the drought depiction in central and eastern portions of the region, while reductions in Abnormal Dryness, Moderate Drought, and Severe Drought (D0-D2) were made in northwestern Montana to account for the favorable start to the Water Year and the easing of long-term moisture deficits; 12-month precipitation climbed to near-normal levels in western Montana, but was still less than 50 percent of normal in the lingering Extreme Drought (D3) areas.
West Drought intensified in the Four Corners, while heavy snow brought welcomed drought relief to northeastern portions of the region.
Across Montana, Abnormal Dryness to Severe Drought were trimmed along the Canadian border to account for the favorable start to the Water Year and subsequent easing of long-term moisture deficits; 12-month precipitation climbed to near-normal levels in western Montana, but was still less than 50 percent of normal in the lingering Extreme Drought (D3) areas.
Severe Drought (D2) was expanded over large portions of the Four Corners region, coincident with much-below-normal precipitation totals over the past 6 months (30-65 percent of normal).
Elsewhere, periods of rain and snow will affect northern California and the Northwest, while dry weather prevails across the central and southern Plains.

First Drought Monitor update from the National Drought Mitigation Center and the results are pretty much as expected: we’re dry.
Despite 2017 actually being a good year for precipitation across most of southern Colorado (Colorado Springs for instance saw 18.44" of precip total which is 1.9" above normal for the year), a steady lack of fall and early winter snow have left much of the state parched.
December in 2017 was the 6th driest on record in Colorado Springs and the 9th driest in Pueblo, and that really put a hurt on not only southern Colorado, but especially the central and western Rockies with areas like Durango currently under a severe drought.
If you compare this update to the drought monitor at this time last year, you can see there are big differences.
The two most notable are the absence of drought in the central and western Rockies and the abundance of a moderate drought along and east of the Front Range.
Last year, we ended up seeing several large mountain snows in January that spilled over into the Front Range and helped our drought situation slightly before the big, quenching snows in March.
Hopefully this year we can also see a few big snows in January, even through our strong La Nina pattern would suggest most of Colorado, especially the Front Range, will stay dry till after February.

The latest National Weather Service Drought Monitor shows parts of the Oklahoma panhandle are in a severe and moderate drought.
The majority of the Texas panhandle is considered to be in a moderate drought with the Eastern area seeing abnormally dry conditions.
"It is really dry, we are starting to see the soil moisture evaporate to certain depths and of course that hurts the farmers and ranchers and that facilitates blowing dust whenever we have a wind event, Sunday it may be very windy around here so we may have to worry about blowing dust of course fire danger is off the charts again," said Chief Meteorologist John Harris.
Harris says with the ongoing lack of precipitation the risk of wildfires is increasing for our area.
"Because of all of the grasses that were growing when it was soaking wet, during the summer period, now those grasses are dormant they are ready to burn so it doesn’t bode well for us and it looks like this La Nina will be with us at least till the end of March."
Looking to the future, Harris is hoping for a wetter spring.
"As we travel into April the weather pattern starts to change, hopefully, we will get into a severe weather pattern which of course brings rain but also severe weather so we are going to have to put up with the bad to get the good.
But as far as any appreciable moisture headed our way over the next ten days, it is pretty much the same story, we aren’t seeing much at all."
For now, residents need to be mindful of the risk of wildfires.
According to the National Weather Service, Amarillo has now surpassed a record for no measurable precipitation.

Oklahoma experienced cold and dry conditions during the month of December, according to USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service, Southern Plains Regional Field Office, Oklahoma.
According to OCS Mesonet, the statewide average precipitation for the full month of December was 1.06 inches.
As of Dec. 26, 76 percent of the state was in the moderate to exceptional drought categories, up 4 points from the previous year and 28 percent of the state was in the severe to exceptional drought categories, down 18 points from the previous year.
Statewide temperatures averaged in the high 30s, with the lowest recording of 1 degree at Buffalo on Dec. 31 and the highest recording of 83 degrees at Burneyville on Dec. 4.
Topsoil and subsoil moisture conditions were rated mostly short to adequate.
Winter wheat grazed reached 35 percent, down 4 points from the previous year.
Rye grazed reached 16 percent, down 8 points from the previous year.
Oats grazed reached 4 percent, down 60 points from the previous year and down 39 points from the normal.
Conditions of pasture and range were rated at 83 percent fair to poor.
Livestock condition was rated at 95 percent good to fair.

Patensie, Hankey could soon run dry, Bay dam levels at record low Fears over the Eastern Cape’s crippling drought predicament have escalated alarmingly as two towns near Nelson Mandela Bay run out of water fast.
The two towns most at risk of running dry were named as Patensie and Hankey, which both fall under Kouga and have just about used up their official water-use quotas for the year after just six months.
Of the four major dams supplying the Bay, Kouga is at a critical 9.56% of its capacity.
She said the two towns had already almost used up their water quotas for the year ending June 2018.
“The allocation for the towns totalled about 880 000 kilolitres a year, but this was decreased to 660 000kl.
“Please use water extremely sparingly and only when absolutely necessary.” Van Lingen said boreholes would also be drilled to augment the water supply, but the geology of the area was not conducive to groundwater retention.
“These processes, including the installation of the necessary infrastructure support, are only expected to be completed towards mid-2018.” The Kouga region, which includes Jeffreys Bay, Humansdorp and the Cape St Francis area, was declared a disaster area in May and water restrictions and punitive tariffs have been in place since, with all residents urged to limit their consumption to 60 litres of water a person a day.
Confirming that the Bay’s water crisis had deepened, the municipality said yesterday its available water supply from storage dams was now at an all-time low.
“Last year, the mayor declared the city a disaster area in terms of the water situation, stricter measures were introduced and millions have been pumped in to improve water distribution infrastructure and clamp down on water leaks.
“Soon, the city will assist in delivering borehole water to businesses and resources will be put into monitoring those who fail to adhere to water restrictions.

PHILLIPS STATION, Calif. — It’s been almost a year since Los Angeles residents felt any real rain, and precious little snow is in the Sierras, but water managers say it’s too early to conclude that California is sliding back into a drought as abruptly as the state fell out of it.
Plunging rods into snowpacks to measure the snow depth, water managers use the event to acquaint Californians with the state of the water supply.
Southern California wildfires that grew to the biggest in state history in December — normally the rainy season in California — already have made clear the bottom line: The state is far drier than normal so far this winter.
Near-record rainfall last year unleashed widespread flooding and snapped a historic five-year drought.
The wet 2017 allowed Gov.
Jerry Brown in April to lift a drought emergency declaration that had brought mandatory water conservation orders for cities and towns, and water cutbacks for many rural users.
Snowpack in the Sierras, which supplies a steady flow of water in good years as the snow melts, stood Tuesday at one-fourth of normal for this point in the year.
It’s not time to despair, yet, Carlson said.
Last year’s copious rains have left reservoirs with plenty of water.
And it’s early in the winter rainy season yet — California normally receives half its rain between December and February.