Incredible footage has emerged of a large tree being uprooted and carried down a churning river in Roxburgh, which has suffered major flash floods.
The Central Otago town has seen landslips, flooded houses and evacuations over the weekend amid significant rainfall, and motorists have been told to avoid the area.
A video from the town has displayed just how serious the flooding is, with water moving down Reservoir Creek with enough force that it uprooted a tree and carried it down the creek.
The tree, measuring at least 30 metres, can be seen cracking against the underside of the bridge Kelly Muir was filming from, drawing gasps from onlookers.
Reservoir Creek is a deep flood channel, and filled with rocks that had fallen from the hill beside it during the storm, which caused it to flood.
The flooding took out a pipe in the reservoir, which caused it to quickly drain and cut off the water supply. Water tankers have been brought in to provide drinking water to residents while that is fixed.
Ms Muir, who filmed the footage, came across the scene after driving from Cromwell through Alexandra which, despite being just 30 minutes' drive away, was sunny.
Ms Muir described the storm that caused the floods as very isolated, and said that after just 10 minutes driving down the road after filming, skies were totally clear again.
She told Newshub her group was lucky to get through on the road south to Millers Flat, as it was closed shortly after.
One Facebook user from the area commented that they used to refer to Reservoir Creek as 'Little Boys Creek', but said it wouldn't be befitting of that label now.
The official name of the waterway that runs through the town is Reservoir Creek. It's a deep flood channel and filled with rocks off the hill beside it, which caused it to flood.
Roxburgh is now inaccessible from the south after the flash flooding.
About 600 people live in the township.
Newshub.
