Midday Report

Heavy rainfall is continuing to hammer the Bay of Plenty region Monday morning. 

MetService says Ōpōtiki had 59 millimetres of rain since midnight, with the rest of the region seeing between 30 and 60 millimetres.

In eastern Bay of Plenty there's concern Lake Rotomā, which has been flooding intermitently over the past five months, could overflow again and flood part of State Highway 30.

Further south, State Highway 5 south of Tumunui is partially blocked due to a slip caused by heavy rain.

MetService meteorologist Jessie Owen spoke to Charlotte Cook.

National leader Christopher Luxon has confirmed he will work with New Zealand First after the election, if necessary.

In a social media video released Monday morning, Luxon expressed his strong preference would be to form a coalition Governent with ACT, if he wins next month's election.

But he conceded MMP elections are always tight, and said he will work with Winston Peters if that's what's needed to put Labour out of power.

ACT leader David Seymour last month ruled out working with New Zealand First after the election, and had urged National to do the same.

But when Charlotte Cook spoke with him he was not so black and white, saying he would keep his options open.

Labour is vowing to keep free school lunches in nearly one-thousand schools if it's re-elected.

Government funding had only budgeted for the programme until the end of 2024, but Labour is committing $650 million to continue it.

It says the meals save families $33 per week per child, or more than $1,200 per year per child on average.

Labour's Associate Education spokesperson Jo Luxton spoke with Charlotte Cook.

Heavy rain that caused widespread flooding and damage in Southland and Otago has now eased there, but it's now making its way up the country.

Large swathes of the South Island remain under weather warnings and watches ahead of the weekend.

Metservice Meteorologist Clare O'Connor spoke to Charlotte Cook.

Many farmers are in damage control, putting out supplementary feed and moving stock after heavy rainfall resulted in flooding across the Southland region.

Monique Steele has the business news.

France crushed Namibia 96 - 0 Friday morning in their World Cup pool game in Marseille but their biggest ever test win has come at a cost with captain Antoine Dupont suffering a broken cheekbone which could rule him out of the rest of the tournament. 

Jonty Dine has sports.

The Commerce Commission's market study into personal banking services has unleashed a torrent of negative feedback on the current state of sector competition. 

Kim Moodie has the business news.

The Southland region also remains in a state of emergency, following the heavy rain.

Tuatapere's water treatment plant is back up and running with the help of generators, though people in the Southland town are still being advised to boil their water.

The plant stopped working last night when it was flooded, forcing the council to bring in water tankers.

Joining us now is the chair of the Tuatapere Te Waewae Community Board, Anne Horrell.

NIWA says Queenstown has had its wettest day in 24 years, with 87 millimetres of rain falling in the past 24 hours.

The drenching has prompted a state of emergency in the tourist town, with more than 100 people evacuated overnight because of the risk of landslips and flooding.

While the rain has eased, businesses and residents have a sizable clean up ahead.

Queenstown mayor Glyn Lewers spoke with Charlotte Cook

News from the rural farming sector