Oamaru woman stuck at house due to flooding after trying to evacuate her blind nephew

An Oamaru woman is stuck at her sister's house due to flooding as she tried to help evacuate her two nephews - one who is blind and the other in a wheelchair.

Raylene Mulligan, a local of over 50 years, said she'd never seen flooding this severe.

At about 3am, Mulligan had driven to her sister's house in North Oamaru, hoping to evacuate her nephews.

"My sister messaged and said she had water up to her backdoor. I very carefully made my way to her house... and here I am!

"I juts thought I needed to get them back to my place where it's safe but unfortunately I was a little bit late."

Mulligan said she was now stuck there with them in the house, due to flooding outside.

She said as she drover to her sister's house the water was up over the hubcaps of her truck.

"The front yard is knee high in water. So there's no way I could push a wheel-chair to even get to my truck."

She said with more warning from the council, she might have been able to get them out safely.

"I knew there was a weather warning, and I'd been keeping an eye on the council website and there was nothing so I thought we must be all right."

She said the State of Emergency declaration should have come hours earlier.

"Anxiety was pretty high to be honest."

Meanwhile, Oamaru grandmother Sonya Rigg said she got a call in the early hours that her grandchildrens' room was flooding.

"It was just absolutely pouring down."

She arrived to see the lower part of her son's home covered in water.

She took her four grandchildren home while emergency services arrived to pump out water.

However, she said getting back to her house near the CBD was difficult, having to negotiate through different streets to avoid flooding.

"It was pretty rubbish."

She was too frustrated the council's State of Emergency declaration came on Monday morning, saying people were choosing to evacuate hours before.

"The amount of water around here, the amount of damage to properties is just ridiculous."