A man is lucky to be alive after his car was swept away while trying to cross a flooded river in Canterbury last night.

Bucketing rain flooded roads and required evacuations yesterday in the region, with some rivers rising dramatically.

The man’s vehicle was swept away while attempting to ford the river on McLaughlins Rd near Darfield, west of Christchurch.

The man spent hours on his car roof after being swept away crossing a flooded river on McLaughlins Rd in Darfield, Canterbury. Photo / George Heard

Darfield fire chief John Chambers said a young man had been attempting to ford the river when he “went down the river a little ways and got trapped”.

He was on his roof for “quite some time” before the swift water team rescued him in the early hours of this morning, with help from police and St John ambulance officers.

He was able to walk to the ambulance himself, Chambers said.

The Herald understands the man was stuck for several hours.

The man was able to walk to the ambulance by himself, despite being trapped atop the car in the frigid water for several hours. Photo / George Heard

Heavy rain flooded large parts of Canterbury on Sunday. Photo / George Heard

More than a month’s worth of rain had fallen in many parts of Canterbury yesterday, with Akaroa in Banks Peninsula getting 198.8mm in 24 hours - its wettest day on record, according to Niwa.

A heavy rain warning remained in place until 7am this morning. Snow was also expected to fall overnight in some areas.

Chambers asked people to “think about where you’re driving your cars” especially when trying to ford a river.

“This same river has claimed three vehicles that we know of so far - well this is the third - so be careful.”

Boil notice for Methven, Mt Somers

Ashburton District Council is warning residents of Methven and Mt Somers to boil their water before using it, as heavy rain has created “high turbidity” in the Methven water supply.

The precautionary boil water notice is effective immediately. Any residents connected to the scheme should boil drinking water, water used in food preparation, and any water used for hygiene purposes for at least one minute before consuming it, the council said.

The boil water notice will remain in place until further notice. There were no concerns for the Methven-Springfield supply at this stage.

A water tanker is on site this morning outside the Methven Medical Centre. Locals can text their post code to 4196 to receive free alerts and updates from the council.

Evacuations amid flooding

People in parts of Canterbury were encouraged to evacuate amid heavy downpours that closed the Ashburton bridge and multiple other roads across the region yesterday.

The Wamakariri District Council encouraged residents in Tuahiwi to evacuate.

“If you can stay with friends and family tonight, we advise you to do this as a precaution,” the council shared on Facebook.

A Civil Defence Centre was stood up at The Riverside Church in Kaiapoi at 45 Charles Street, Kaiapoi.

Waimakariri MP Dan Rosewarne told Newstalk ZB yesterday the evacuation centre was expecting up to 115 families.

Rosewarne said the key message for locals was to “just check on your neighbours, knock on their door, see if they’re ok”.

“See if they’ve got supplies, see if they’ve got family themselves in the local area that they could, get help from and if need be just help them evacuate because some members in our community don’t always have a vehicle,” Rosewarne said.

“They may have mobility issues so just knocking on your neighbour’s door and making sure that they’re ok.”

The Waimakariri District Council had had over 100mls of rain yesterday. The rain was expected to continue into the night, with potentially another 60 to 90 mm on top of what had already fallen.