Massive clean up on two fronts in Southland

Friday, 7 February 2020

Civil Defence Minister Peeni Henare visits Mataura, which has been the town worst hit by the flooding.

Three days of intense rain. Two state of emergencies. And now a massive clean up is happening in two diverse areas of the south.

The overall cost of the damage to property, farms, state highways, roads, businesses and lost tourism dollars is likely to cost millions.

Flooded Mataura Residents Clearing Out Homes

The state of emergency for Southland will stay in place until Tuesday when it will then be reviewed.

Civil Defence Minister Peeni Henare on Friday announced a further $100,000 of funding will be available for Southland and more support will be ongoing.

Mataura residents return to clear out their flooded houses after being evacuated during a state of emergency earlier this week.

* Prime Minister says long-term solution needed for Mataura residents and stored ouvea premix

* Mop up operations begin in Gore**

Images of the flooding in the Mataura township taken from a helicopter on Thursday morning.

This goes alongside the $100,000 already signalled from the Rural Support Trusts to help farmers.

In five days emergency services and hundreds of volunteers have dealt with two major events. Rescuing stranded tourists in Fiordland to then evacuating thousands of residents in eastern Southland.

Red Cross staff Scott Savage, Hamish MacArthur and Amelia Meeds drove in from Dunedin on Friday morning to help at the Mataura community centre. They relieved the Red Cross team from Invercargill who were stationed at the centre overnight.

It all started in what is already regarded as one of the wettest places in New Zealand - Fiordland.

Flooding and slips were triggered by 350mm of rain falling in 24 hours at Milford Sound and a further 300mm to 450mm of rain was forecast for other parts in Fiordland.

Mataura residents return to clear out their flooded houses.

Emergency Management Southland controller Bruce Halligan said civil defence staff knew they were looking at a major event when it declared a state of emergency in Fiordland on Monday.

'I think it's fair to say that due to the amount of rainfall it was never just going to be a one dayer and it would be all over.'

As roads closed and rain fell at a rate of 55mm an hour, EMS swung into action and set up a base at the Te Anau Community Centre.

But the rain event was far from over.

As EMS worked on the rescue in Fiordland, rain continued to pour and rivers in northern Southland, including the Mataura River and its tributaries, continued to rise.

The raging Mataura River kept rising and on Tuesday and 2400 Gore residents were evacuated and on Wednesday people Mataura and Wyndham had to leave as well.

A second state of emergency was declared.

At midday on Wednesday, the Mataura River peaked at 2500.1 cumecs at Gore and nearly 2700 cumecs at Mataura, flooding about 30 homes as water moved through.

On top of that was the major concern of what might happen to tonnes of ouvea premix that was being stored in an old paper mill right beside the river.

The man in one of the leading positions of the response, Emergency Management Southland controller Angus McKay said Southlanders themselves had a big part in the success of how the major events were controlled.

'The work we have been doing for the last few years with our communities, and really the success of what's happened during the last few days, has been down to those communities standing up and looking after themselves for a lot of the time.

'And it's also been about us [EMS] putting people out to liaise with those communities and identify where the risks are and how we can help and support them.'

McKay says there will be lessons to learn from the past five days.

'We've not had a big civil defence emergency for a few years in Southland… this week has been absolutely massive - it's just been one thing after another … we've got Fiordland and Milford still really impacted and we've got to get back to what we are doing there.'

EMS was especially happy with the support from volunteers who took their time to be involved.

'We know the Southland community was going to look after everyone and that's exactly what happened. Everybody's pitched in. Emergency services, councils, tourism operators, Red Cross … absolutely everyone.'

Civil Defence Minister Henare visited Mataura with Southland mayoral forum chairman and District Mayor Tracy Hicks on Friday.

Mataura was the hardest town hit by the flooding with up to 30 houses damaged.

Henare said: 'Support will be ongoing - this is an initial response to the adverse weather event but we know that the recovery is going to take some time over rural sector, the tourism sector, and no doubt others.'

Hicks said: 'While there was lots of infrastructure problems and challenges we need to deal with quickly, the real issue is people and just making sure people are safe and secure in their homes and can carry on with their lives.'

Hicks flew with the minister across the district and said it was good to have a minister here at this time 'while we are facing such a challenge in the province.'

'While the water is receded and it has receded quite dramatically, the problem still remains and there will be people in Mataura and places like that where they are going to struggle to get into their homes.'

'We need help … certainly the resourcefulness of the Southland people is known across the nation, but it is always good to welcome someone from Wellington who can assist us in many ways …'