By Lucy Craymer
WELLINGTON, July 3 (Reuters) - The north of New Zealand's South Island was bracing for more heavy rains on Thursday, with a few homes evacuated and local authorities warning of landslides and surface flooding.
New Zealand's Nelson and Tasman regions were hit by heavy rains at the weekend, which caused significant flooding in rural areas and resulted in a local state of emergency being declared to deal with the disaster.
Further heavy rains are now forecast for the regions, as a wild weather system that and led to dozens of flight cancellations moved toward New Zealand.
New Zealand weather forecaster Metservice has issued a heavy rain warning for the Nelson and Tasman regions from the early morning to early evening on Thursday with further lighter rain forecast for the following day.
Nelson Tasman Controller Alec Louverdis told Radio New Zealand it was not clear how severe the weather might be Thursday "so precaution is the priority."
He warned that as the land was already wet, it would not take much for things to get bad.
Nelson Tasman Emergency Management Group said in a statement that river levels remain steady but they were continuing to monitor them.
Metservice also has heavy rain warnings in place for the central and east coast of New Zealand's North Island.
(Reporting by Lucy Craymer; Editing by Jamie Freed)
((Lucy.Craymer@thomsonreuters.com [Lucy.Craymer@thomsonreuters.com];))
