Nelson is attempting to maintain a sense of normality with an inter-regional basketball tournament set to go ahead this weekend.
A high school basketball game in action. File photo. Photo: Steph Walker
The secondary schools premiership will bring up to 400 students from almost 40 school around Te Waipounamu.
Students will compete between Saturday 27 August and Tuesday 30 August at Saxton Stadium.
A small number of conferences will also bring extra people to the city for the weekend.
Basketball New Zealand has liaised with emergency managers and School Sport New Zealand, who collectively decided it would be safe to push ahead with the event.
Basketball New Zealand general manager of leagues Huw Beynon said the decision wasn't made lightly.
"The Trafalgar Centre has been unaffected by the recent weather event, and it was important to us that the League doesn't add to any capacity issues the region is facing as a result of the weather event.
Flooding in Nelson on 19 August. Photo: Nelson City Council
There had been concerns about water supply and congestion on roads due to widespread closures, but Civil Defence controller Alec Louverdis said the city had the capacity to host extra people - but they would need to follow the emergency guidelines.
"For the visitors that are coming to conferences I wouldn't advocate driving around, especially on roads that are already massively congested," he said.
"It's just a prudent, practical approach, you know, we have a State of Emergency for a reason."
Participants were set to stay near the stadium which would reduce potential traffic issues.
The premiership had been cancelled due to Covid-19 for the last two years, but tournaments were also now taking place in Auckland, Rotorua and New Plymouth.
Nelson will remain in a State of Emergency until Wednesday at the earliest, and response crews remain on standby with more rain expected tomorrow.
