By ANNE BESTON
Rain at the top of the South Island brought welcome relief yesterday, but it might not be enough to stop one of the country's most popular walking tracks being closed.
Drought in the Nelson region has pushed the fire risk in the Abel Tasman National Park to crisis level.
Department of Conservation acting area manager Dave Thompson said the northern end of the park would be closed unless rain fell in the next few days.
"This is the worst drought we've had for 20 or even 50 years.
"People caught on the track [in the event of fire] wouldn't stand a chance - we probably couldn't even rescue them."
The area has had up to 20mm of rain in the past 24 hours, but Mr Thompson said another 30mm to 40mm was needed over the next two days.
DoC had ordered fire notices and contacted some of the more than 200 visitors who had booked accommodation at Whariwharangi hut, which is in the proposed no-go area.
Notices would be put up along Totaranui Rd warning that north of Totaranui estuary was closed.
"It's a fairly involved process. Obviously we have operators in the northern part of the park, people like kayak operators, but the area is highly volatile.
"We've got things in place and can move if we have to," Mr Thompson said.
The Abel Tasman National Park walkway had been closed once before because of drought, in the 1970s, Mr Thompson said.
Latest figures show Marlborough, Nelson, Canterbury and Buller got less than 25 per cent of their normal rainfall last month.
Motueka had its second-lowest rainfall since 1943.
Fire danger is also very high in Awatere Valley, Marlborough, Motukarara, near Christchurch, and inland Otago.
MetService forecaster Bob McDavitt said a cold front passing over the South Island had pushed its way through an anticyclone to bring rain to the top of the South Island.
But that front would move north over the next couple of days with only drizzle forecast over the weekend.
"Next week looks pretty dry," he said.
Meanwhile the humid, warm weather Aucklanders have had over the last two weeks looks set to continue.
Mr McDavitt said easterly winds would continue next week although Auckland might get showers today.
While most of the South Island and parts of Wairarapa were in drought, Coromandel, Bay of Plenty and Gisborne had extreme rainfall last month, according to the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research.
Coromandel and Bay of Plenty had up to 400 per cent more rain than usual, and mean North Island temperatures were 0.5 deg to 1.5 deg above normal.
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