Severe weather is forecast to slam back into New Zealand on Monday with another band of lows incoming.
MetService has issued a number of severe weather watches for heavy rain and strong winds hammering the upper South Island and lower North Island.
"Another active low pressure system moves across the country during Monday and Tuesday bringing strong winds and heavy rain mainly to central areas," it says.
"Southerly winds may approach severe gale at times...rainfall accumulations may approach short duration warning amounts."
The wild weather is being caused by a "particularly strong" jet stream, NIWA says, adding it will impact on our weather patterns over the next week.
"A climate driver called the Madden-Julian Oscillation is expected to intensify the jet stream, which will extend toward NZ from the eastern Indian Ocean," meteorologist Ben Noll says on NIWA's Facebook page.
"The jet stream is a ribbon of fast-moving air in the upper atmosphere that divides warm and cold air masses.
"It will cause the formation of several lows, which will bring rain and wind to many regions."
The first one is already moving over the North Island on Sunday, bringing heavy rain and flooding to the Wellington region.
Numerous photos show houses swamped by pools of water knee-deep in some places.
