# The rivers

Live gauge readings from Environment Canterbury, and the rain that explains them.

A river is not news until it moves, so this page is mostly an instrument panel rather than a feed. The gauges report every few minutes; a river only earns a row in the stream when it is rain-driven, climbing hard, and already at its weekly high, all three, because a tidal reach does two of them twice a day whatever the weather. Absolute heights are never shown. A gauge reading is elevation above that gauge’s own arbitrary datum, so the number means nothing without the datum and means something alarming to a reader who assumes it is depth. Only the movement is published. This is not a flood warning service.

_Relayed from the source, not verified or endorsed by this site._

## In force / coming up

- [Heavy Rain Warning - Orange](https://alerts.metservice.com/cap/alert?id=2.49.0.0.554.0.severeweather.nz.20261012202725099.4), Buller, Expect 80 to 110 mm of rain, mainly about the ranges. Peak rates of 15 to 25 mm/h expected during Wednesday morning and afternoon. Impact: Streams and rivers may rise rapidly. Surface flooding, slips, and difficult driving conditions possible. Chance of upgrading to a Red Warning: Minimal., 14 Oct 2026

## Recent

- [Heavy Rain Watch](https://alerts.metservice.com/cap/alert?id=2.49.0.0.554.0.severeweather.nz.20261012202725099.1), Ranges of Westland and Grey Districts north of Mount Cook, also Canterbury High Country within 15 kilometres of the Main Divide, Periods of heavy rain, and amounts may approach warning criteria. Chance of upgrading to a Warning: Moderate., 13 Oct 2026

## Questions, answered briefly

**What does this page list?**

Live gauge readings from Environment Canterbury, and the rain that explains them.

**Where does this feed come from?**

[Environment Canterbury river flow telemetry](https://www.ecan.govt.nz/data/riverflow/): read live, newest first.

**How fresh is it?**

The stream re-asks the source every minute while the page is open; the rows a crawler reads are the last bake, refreshed daily.

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HTML: https://www.chch.live/rivers
Source: [Environment Canterbury river flow telemetry](https://www.ecan.govt.nz/data/riverflow/)
Feed: https://www.chch.live/api/happening?kinds=river