flooding

The Solomons has been afflicted by heavy rain and strong winds for the last two weeks, which have caused rivers to bust their banks and sweep through villages on the main islands of Malaita and Guadalcanal.

The flash flooding has contaminated drinking water and destroyed food gardens.

Director of the Disaster Management Office, Loti Yates, said food supplies and health and sanitation packs were needed as the risk of water and mosquito borne diseases was rising.

Eighty percent of those affected are subsistence farmers living in rural areas, Mr Yates said

Fiji police have confirmed that a man was swept away by strong currents and another man is still missing as flood waters begin to rise again a week after Cyclone Josie.

Heavy rain, widespread flooding, and damaging winds are expected over the next 24 to 48 hours.

The Director National Disaster Management Office Anare Leweniqila said the weather system has a high potential of developing into a category one cyclone.

The National Disaster Management Office said initial assessments in Honiara show the biggest impact has been on people living in squatter settlements.

The NDMO director Loti Yates said the torrential downpour, which continued for most of Thursday, will have negative impacts on water and sanitation, people's food gardens and pose the risk of disease outbreaks.

Mr Yates said more detailed assessments are being carried out today to ensure affected communities get the support they need to recover.

Showers are forecast to continue today with the Department of Education cancelling school for a second day.

American Samoa Meteorologist Salu Malala Salu said the approaching depression was expected to intensify within the next 24 hours.

"There's a tropical depression ... and it's located about halfway between us and Fiji. Looking at the models, it should come near Savai'i and Upolu [in Samoa] late tonight," Mr Salu said.

Heavy rain continued to fall across much of the Australian state and authorities prepared for possible evacuations in the north-east.

The state is enduring what the weather bureau says is an "unprecedented" deluge that could bring three months' of rain in three days, with another 150mm forecast to fall in some areas.

While the threat has eased somewhat in Melbourne, emergency workers are paying particular attention to the north-east ranges, where significant flooding is expected and warnings have been issued for the Ovens and King rivers.

A record 30in of rain (75cm) has already fallen on the city of Houston in the wake of Hurricane Harvey, turning roads into rivers.

But forecasters say that number could nearly double later this week.

On Monday President Donald Trump also approved an emergency declaration for neighbouring Louisiana.

Harvey made landfall as a category-four hurricane late on Friday, bringing flooding described by officials as "unprecedented". It was later downgraded to a tropical storm.

Dunedin mayor Dave Cull said there were still many slips on the road and the weather was freezing, with black ice on many city streets. Council officers were out laying grit, he said.

RNZI reports on the Taieri Plain, Dunedin Civil Defence said two houses in Outram were badly flooded but most of the approximately 100 people who had to get out on Friday could now return.

However, it said some residents of the nearby township of Henley might have to stay away for days. All its residents were evacuated on Friday night and there was no timeframe for them to return.

The Taieri Plain south of Dunedin is on track for its second-largest flood on record.

Dunedin Civil Defence said the Taieri river was flowing at 1200 cumecs, and at 100 cumecs the Taieri floodgates were normally opened.

The civil defence controller, Sue Bidrose, said that was because they had been working to evacuate all the farmhouses and stock on the land which will be flooded once the gates are opened.

About 1,200 military personnel have been deployed to support emergency services responding to the flooding.

In a statement announcing the 48-hour state of emergency, the city of Montreal said forecasts suggested that the situation would not be short-lived.

Environment Canada was warning that water levels in the Rivière des Prairies were expected to rise by 20 centimeters overnight, weakening dikes, breakwaters and dams set up in key areas to prevent water infiltration, the statement said.

In South Carolina, Jason Matthews, 66, died Monday when strong winds flipped his mobile home several times, Union County Sheriff David Taylor said.

"He was barely alive when (his) brother found him. By the time EMS and law enforcement could get to him he had died from his injuries," Taylor said.

Earlier, in Florence, Mississippi, 52-year-old Jacqueline Williams was on the phone Monday morning with 911, trying to direct rescuers after her vehicle went off the road into a creek, Rankin County Coroner David Ruth said. She was unable to get out and died.