The only way out of Ashburton to the north tonight is by air, as flood waters inundate roads around the town and locals are urged to hunker down.
The options to the south are not much better, with 10 state highways in Canterbury closed.
While the Ashburton River has receded, people are being told to keep their bags packed because the call to evacuate could still come.
"The river is still full and there's still pressure on there. We still haven't taken off the notice for residents to have their bags packed, ready to go at short notice," Ashburton Mayor Neil Brown told a media conference.
He said the river is dropping slowly, but at 1250 cubic metres, it is still far higher than the usual 10.
"We're still watching it very, very carefully, because the flow is still very high. It could take a day or two for that to drop back to a level where we can remove that threat of flooding."
Farmers are among the worst affected and support is on offer.
"We've got Rural Support Trust ... they're fielding calls from farmers who need assistance. We have one area of farmers worst hit, in the Greenstreet area. And they're being supported and I've heard of helicopters flying some feed in for some that cannot drive to get feed into their stock," Brown said.
Brian Beeston is one of the dairy farmers in that worst area. He sees the flooding took hold faster than anticipated
"When we knew there was going to be heavy rain, we didn't expect in the first 12 hours to get what we got, because we thought it'd be daylight. We'd see how much rains coming, what's happening, we'd move the cattle."
But they ended up losing 60 hectares of grazing land for 300 yearlings.
"All of a sudden, within 12 hours, gone. The whole block, gone. And the heifers are gone. At the moment we're seeing odd little groups around on neighboring properties."
He says the big focus is on finding missing animals.
"But until the water goes down, you can't even get animals because there's rivers where [there] were paddocks. So until those rivers go down you can't even get there with anything safely.
"So at the moment we're hoping these animals are all at the neighbors."
He told Checkpoint the last two days have been chaos.
"Thank God it stopped raining. Now we just have to let the water run its course, and that could be the next 12 hours or 24 hours."
In Asburton township, local that can still safely stay home are hunkering down. Rex Bennett has lived in Ashburton for 40 years. He says he's never seen rain like this before.
"He's been checking the stop banks over the last 48 hours and feels safe for now. But he is still on standby. And had to act quickly on Sunday.
"I moved a couple of horses on Sunday afternoon. I wasn't concerned but my younger family were and I wanted to allay their fears. We had we had bags packed with a bit of stuff in preparation."
A short drive away Hakatere Marae has turned into an evacuation center. Chair Michelle Brett said since they opened, they've had more and more people turning up.
"When I arrived here last night there were about 25. Today we've had another group come through that are heading south and can't get across the roads as well. So the main thing at the moment is to wait and see what happens with our roads. If they open up people can start heading home."
Seventeen-year-old Charlotte Nicole got stuck while driving home from Christchurch to Waimate. She is sheltering at the marae until she can get back on the road.
"I was a bit nervous that I'd just be sitting in a cold room but they welcomed us, kept us fed, kept us warm, been ever so kind. I can't imagine being on my own and not having this place."
