Roads begin to open in the south as weather clears

Roads closed by flooding and slips have begun to re-open in the south, allowing people to enter and leave Southland.

Both State Highway 94 and SH1, to the west and east of Gore, had reopened by Thursday afternoon, allowing residents to leave the flooded town. 

On Thursday evening, the ​Southland District Council was working on establishing a one-lane gravel track for the section of the road damaged between Wyndham and the bridge which, depending on how fast the flood water receded, could take up to four hours.

The work would need sandbagging material and involved co-ordination with Emergency Management Southland.  

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New Zealand Transport Agency journey manager Peter Brown said they were still busy with evaluations and assessments, and some highways weren’t ready to be reopened yet. 

It would take until the end of the weekend at least to work out when the Milford road could reopen.  

There is still damage to the busy stretch of highway, and the most-damaged piece would take “some time to repair”. 

Contractors at the Milford road are “sufficiently staffed and resourced to deal with the damage”, Brown said. 

Similarly, the road between Frankton and Kingston would need some repair. However, SH6 from Lumsden to Frankton was reopened on Thursday afternoon.

Other highways should be able to open once water receded, Brown said. 

While to was too early to compare this week’s events to previous floods, the fact that there was so much rain in such a short period of time was significant, he said.  

“This flood event was a very severe event in a short period of time.” 

The small stretch of SH6 just north of Makarewa had reopened on Thursday.

Residents of Wyndham were able to return home but were being advised to be careful driving, as there is significant damage to roads and bridges surrounding the town.

Emergency Management Southland controller Bruce Halligan said he realised that people were very keen to get back to their homes.

“Our first concern is for people’s safety. People should take care when driving and keep away from flooded areas.”