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Damage is being assessed across Southland after heavy rains caused flooding in the south of the province on Sunday.
Some Southland rivers were still under a flood warning Monday morning.
Southland civil defense controller Angus McKay said conditions were looking much better Monday.
“At least the sun came up today,” he said.
“Today is a great cleanup day.”
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Highway crews were cleaning up slips on a highway near Tokanui and assessing damage to other roads.
Robyn Edie / Stuff
The large flooded southern lumber yard on West Plains Rd.
“Certainly, there are still a lot of closed roads in low-lying areas that are generally affected by flooding.”
Robyn Edie / Stuff
Downer’s wastewater contractors are busy repairing the pump chamber after a surface flood in Riverton.
The Southland District Council had listed the road closures on social media and said the roads around western Southland around Riverton and Otautau had temporary speed limits in place and can be navigated with care Monday morning. Some roads were also affected in the Gore district on Sunday.
McKay said that the Civil Defense had contacted everyone who suffered property damage in the floods. Some properties in Riverton, Invercargill and Otatara were pumped by fire crews, and a dozen homes on Grant Rd in Otatara had water up to the front step, he said.
The Rural Support Trust met Monday morning to plan how to reach farmers in the eastern south who had been affected by the floods.
Robyn Edie / Stuff
Waikiwi Creek overflowed with flooding at the corner of North Rd and McIvor Rd.
The Wyndham and Mokoreta areas had been badly affected on Sunday, although locals had coped well with the situation, he said.
“There has just been a lot of surface water. It didn’t go down the river systems as it usually does, the ground was just saturated from the weather earlier in the week so it didn’t run off.
A polar explosion on Monday and Tuesday of last week brought snow to low levels in the province.
Around 50-60mm of rain fell over 24 hours in some areas over the weekend.
“It never got to the level where we would get warnings from the MetService. It was a constant rain. ”
Robyn Edie
Riverton property owner Terry Murphy fixes a blocked culvert on his property, which on Sunday caused his section to flood.
As of Monday morning, Environment Southland still had flood warnings issued for the lower reaches of the Mataura, Mokoreta, Makarewa, Waiau and Waihopai rivers, Hedgehope Stream and Waituna Creek, although levels were dropping.
At Riverton on Taramea Bay Rd, owner Cherly Murphy said she had seen many heavy rains in the area before, but none had been as bad as Sunday.
Although there was no damage to his property, a small stream running through his backyard flooded over the banks and turned it into a lake, Murphy said.
“It was a lot of water.”
Robyn Edie / Stuff
Downer’s wastewater contractors Electrician Thomas McRae, left, and Craig Duncan fix a sewer unit on Taramea Bay Rd, Riverton.
What normally ran with a small thread fell with enough force to dislodge its bridge and move it 10 meters, he said.
Across the street, Downers contractors were fixing a sewer system.
Contractor Craig Duncan said water had filled through the wet well and broken it.
Robyn Edie / Stuff
East of the Queens Drive Bridge on the flooded Waihopai River are enthusiastic fishermen, from left to right, Tyler Bell, Dylan Lynds, both of Invercargill, and Jacob Sheppard of Gore.
The monitor that measures water levels had broken, causing sewage to be pumped overhead, Duncan said.
It was fortunate that the high tide had been at 4 p.m. when the rain had subsided or the damage could be worse, Duncan said.
According to MetService, more rain was forecast for Southland on Tuesday and Wednesday, while strong winds were expected to continue.
