The upper South Island and lower North Island are in Mother Nature’s firing line as heavy rain moves its way up the country.

Roads and paddocks around Nelson and Golden Bay gave way to rising river levels, and humans and animals have been forced to take cover.

Brent Riley, who farms at Rockville in Golden Bay, says farmers are struggling to deal with the downpour after record rainfall over the past two months.

“We’ve had enough of it. In our district here in Golden Bay, we’ve had about a thousand millimitres of rain in the last 60 days.

"It’s enough to present a fair few challenges, that’s for sure."

"It’s just very hard to farm to – a bit of flooding damage, but mainly just sodden pastures and difficult to get around.”

Mr Riley says the surface water is taking its toll on stock and pasture.