National Volunteer Week (16-22 June) celebrates the people who give time to their communities - but it is the managers and leaders who make any volunteering possible.

A standoff between Police and an armed offender in a Penrose bank was resolved at 9.45pm when the man was arrested without incident.

The 41 year-old was transported from the Great South Rd scene to Auckland Central Police Station shortly after the arrest.

Strong cold southerlies are expected to spread north over the South Island during Wednesday night and Thursday morning, then over the North Island during Thursday and Friday.

Police at the Penrose armed incident where a man remains holed up in a Great South Rd Westpac Bank branch have evacuated 10 children and three staff from a daycare centre nearby.

Emergency services are at the scene of a fatal car crash on State Highway 3 between Normanby and Hawera in Taranaki at the moment.

The crash, which appears to have been a head on between two cars, occurred just prior to 6pm.

The moist easterly flow which brought heavy rain to south Canterbury, North Otago and Dunedin is now easing and tending more southerly.

However, further rain is expected in the southerly flow affecting places south of about Middlemarch, with 20 to 30mm possible until midday Tuesday.

Police have cordoned a scene in Penrose where an armed man ensconsed himself in a Westpac Bank on Great South Road at about 4.30 this afternoon.

The Broadcasting Standards Authority has not upheld a complaint against the comedy show A Night at the Classic, finding that although it contained coarse language, it was on late at night with clear warnings and was correctly classified.

Many Otago rivers are continuing to run at flood levels, causing widespread surface flooding. Further rain is expected. This will cause many rivers to remain high for at least the next 24 hours.

Taieri

A burst watermain on Waikowhai Street in Ngaio has meant water will be out in the Wellington suburbs of Crofton Downs, Ngaio and Khandallah for about five hours this evening. Contractors are on the scene and are working to repair the main and restore water supply.