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Police are strongly advising motorists in the Nelson-Tasman region to stay home and avoid travel unless they have to, as heavy rain and strong winds continue to batter Aotearoa.

At 6.15am, police put out an advisory for people to avoid unnecessary travel in the Nelson-Tasman region.

Travel should be limited to essential trips only, and anyone in danger should call 111, police said.

The region has been the hardest hit these past few days with massive flooding and evacuations.

There are reports of more widespread flooding, including in the settlements of Richmond and Brightwater, and evacuation of residents, including from Hill St, between William and Templemore Dr.

There have also been reports of more road closures overnight, including on State Highway 60 in Golden Bay, from Onekaka Iron Works road to Haldane Road, due to multiple slips.

SH60 was also closed between Tākaka and Upper Tākaka due to flooding and debris.

A state of emergency has been declared for the Nelson and Marlborough regions.

The heavy rain and strong winds that have hit the country over the past few days are expected to continue throughout the weekend, according to MetService.

Heavy rain warnings are in place for Nelson, Mt Taranaki, the Tasman District west of Motueka, the Marlborough Sounds, Rai Valley and the Richmond Range, Buller and Westland. A warning for Northland ran through till 3am.

Nelson has been hit hard by heavy rain, flooding and slips over the past few days, and that looks set to continue on Saturday. A red heavy rain warning is in place for the district, through till 11am.

About 1200 people are now displaced in the Nelson-Tasman area as a result of extensive flooding and damage.

Following a government contribution of $200,000 to the Nelson Tasman Mayoral Relief Fund on Thursday, the fund is now open to accept donations from the public.

Any person or organisation wishing to donate to the Nelson Tasman Mayoral Relief Fund can deposit funds into the Nelson City Council bank account 03 0703 0325055 00. When making a donation, please use the reference "Mayoral Relief Fund".

Nelson mayor Rachel Reese said the emergency team working on the response has been overwhelmed by the offers of help by the public, and the fund offers a straightforward way to channel that support.

She said it will take years for the region to recover: "Some will not be able to go back to their homes."

Tasman mayor Tim King said the effects of the weather event would be felt well beyond the declared state of emergency.

With a long recovery period predicted, all contributions from the local community and those outside of the region would be greatly appreciated.

"The impact from this natural disaster has been wide-ranging.

"We've seen the obvious damage caused by flooding and landslips so far – however, once the debris is cleared, a number of people will need ongoing support to bring their lives back to normal."

https://twitter.com/KensingtonRoyal/status/1560718292016369664

What's causing this?

Behind this extreme weather is a "long-lived atmospheric river" that landed on our shores on Tuesday, according to Niwa meteorologist Tristan Meyers.

Meyers said atmospheric rivers are huge plumes of moisture that move from the tropics to the mid-latitudes, where New Zealand sits.

"This current atmospheric river is pretty exceptional.

"Analysis we undertook indicates that the amount of moisture in the atmosphere for this particular event is unprecedented for August in climatological data going back to 1959," he said.

https://twitter.com/WeatherWatchNZ/status/1560506648975708160

The University of Otago's Dr Daniel Kingston said the event this week was also notable because of how long the atmospheric river will linger above us.

"A blocking high-pressure system is currently located to the east of New Zealand, which will essentially cause the atmospheric river to stay parked overhead for a number of days," he said.

"I'd speculate that it's in line with what we would expect from climate change; for every degree of warming, the amount of water vapour in the atmosphere can increase by about 7 per cent."

This article has been reproduced with permission from Stuff.co.nz.

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A man has been jailed after police busted a 188kg cocaine shipment sent into Australia by a Mexican drug cartel.

The 50-year-old Sydney man, from Picnic Point, was sentenced to nine years in prison, with a non-parole period of five years, yesterday.

The charges related to a 2019 cocaine import that was seized by police.

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Investigators later observed the man moving hundreds of aluminium ingots and trying to access the cocaine he thought was hidden inside.

The man was already in prison for an unrelated matter when he was charged.

Police estimate the seized cocaine had a street value of $47 million.

The man pleaded guilty on April 29 to various drug charges.

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"The high demand for cocaine in Australia is at the forefront of our battle with organised crime syndicates; they see that big dollar sign over Australia and know the profit they can make is substantially more than any other target market," Wilson said.

Police said this shipment, along with most of the cocaine found in Australia, originated from Colombia and other parts of South America.

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It's been nearly five years since Fortnite entered the world, and what followed changed the gaming landscape as we know it.

Epic Games announced the free-to-play Battle Royale mode in 2017 and the rest is history. 

Within a few short few months, Fortnite had amassed more than 20 million players. 

Today, 400 million people have played the game, with more than 80 million active players. 

So, what is Fortnite?

First and foremost, Fornite is an online video game — one of the biggest video games in the world. There are a few different game modes but the main event is its Battle Royale mode, which sees 100 players fight it out on an open-world island.

Players must jump from a flying "Battle Bus", land on the island, find resources and weapons, and avoid the deadly storm which slowly closes in on an undisclosed area of the map.

Eventually, all remaining players are forced into close combat where there can only be one winner — that is if you're playing Solos.

There are other game modes that include team matches, creative custom game modes and maps, and a campaign that launched alongside the game named Save the World — which is essentially a zombie survival game.

How do you play Fortnite?

Fortnite can be downloaded and played entirely free, yet the company behind the game is one of the most profitable studios to ever exist.

In 2020, Epic Games reported revenue of $7.3 billion. 

This is due to a couple of reasons. One is Fornite's Battle Pass system where players subscribe for a monthly fee and gain access to the Battle Pass exclusive items for that season. 

The other is Fortnite's in-game warehouse filled with virtual costumes, aka skins, to give the player their own creative flair. The average skin costs about 1800 V-Bucks, Fortnite's own in-game currency — yep, they've got their own money. 

V-Bucks can be purchased in the real world from almost anywhere — from gaming retailers to the local supermarket. 

READ MORE: How Australia's top female streamer turned gaming into a full-time career

Just how big is Fortnite?

It's clearly much more than just a video game, Fortnite has seen gamers and content creators launch global careers.

A number of Aussie Fortnite streamers have even made it into the game itself, like Melbourne's own Kathleen Belsten, better known as "Loserfruit". 

Fortnite tournaments are regularly hosted around the world, some offering huge prize money for the best players. 

In 2019, the first ever Fortnite World Cup offered one of the largest prize pools in esports history, an incredible $US30.4 million ($44 million). 

The top solo player, Kyle Giersdorf, aka "Bugha", took home a whopping $3 million ($.3 million).

Fortnite's most recent collaboration has brought the hugely popular anime Dragon Ball to the table, another franchise still going strong more than 30 years after it aired.

Players can now charge up their powers, just like Goku and Vegeta, find the dragon balls, and fly around on the nimbus cloud — it's truly special. 

The crossovers in Fortnite are something we've never seen in a game on this scale.

Players can be dressed as Spider-Man, lightsaber in hand, flying around shooting Kamehameha blasts at Indiana Jones and LeBron James — the entertainment value is on another level. 

How old are the people playing?

While to the general populous, Fortnite is considered a game for kids, player data says otherwise.

Nearly 63 per cent of Fortnite gamers are aged between 18 and 24, with 22.5 per cent aged between 25 and 34.

It's a game that can be played on practically any device, from mobile phones to PlayStation, Xbox, PC and Nintendo Switch (anything with browser support should do the trick).

Have there been any controversies?

Being one of the world's most popular online video games doesn't mean they're immune to controversy.

There was a period of time around 2018 and 2019 when Fortnite was copping a bad wrap over its reported addictive nature, replacing the likes of classic MMORPG World of Warcraft. 

Studies have since shown that video game addiction, while it does exist, only affects the smallest percentage of gamers.

In 2020 Apple removed Fortnite from its app store, kicking players off the platform.

Apple claimed Epic Games was trying to dodge their fee when it comes to in-game transactions.

Epic Games then took legal action against the tech giants to remove the ban without success.

While Fortnite is still absent from the Apple app store, Xbox's latest cloud update means players can jump into Fortnite from any device.

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How has Fortnite changed?

The Fortnite map layout has changed dramatically over the years, with the entire island being decimated in a reverse big bang-like event at the end of Season Two.

We've had alien invasions, summer beach parties, superhero takeovers as well as visitors from a galaxy far far away.

Fortnite is currently in Season 3 of Chapter 3, and a new season is set to launch in mid-September. As to what the future will hold, we'll have to wait and see.