Dozens of residents and business owners queuing on Sunday morning to get inside parts of Christchurch's central business district cordon.

PARTS OF CBD CORDON AREA LIFTED

They waited to get the first public access inside the cordon. Zones one and two to the east and west of the city center opened to residents, business owners and property owners with photo identification and proof of address from 8 a.m..

The general public may collect cars parked in these zones from 2 p.m..

Police said people with genuine reasons to enter the zones would have to be patient, with police and Defense Force personnel manning the cordon entry points.

Access to zones three and four to the north, and the central red zone where recovery efforts continue, remain restricted.

The council is looking into how vehicles will be removed from these zones, with a plan expected Tuesday.

Police were closely monitoring several Christchurch suburbs overnight as surface flooding made some roads impassable in Bromley, Avondale, St Martins and Dallington.

DEATH TOLL AT 166

Police on Sunday morning lifted the death toll from Feb. 22's quake by one, to 166.

The total death toll is likely to be less than initially feared, after police on Saturday announced that no bodies were found in the rubble of the iconic Christchurch Cathedral, where up to 22 people were thought to have been crushed.

4.8 AFTERSHOCK

A magnitude 4.8 aftershock at 7.34 p.m. Saturday was sharp enough to unsettle many residents, whose nerves have already been frayed by all the death, destruction and frequent aftershocks.

The sharp jolt was followed by six more shocks of magnitudes of up to 3.8. Most were close to Lyttleton and at shallow and medium depths.

GNS Science said there had been two aftershocks in the Christchurch area since midnight.

The latest was a 3.5 magnitude quake at 9 a.m.. It was centered 10 km north-east of Lyttelton at a depth of 5 km.