Prime Minister John Key and Civil Defence Minister Nikki Kaye have met with flood-affected mayors and local MP Chester Borrows in Wanganui to discuss plans for cleaning up the region.
Mr Key had earlier flown over the region today in a helicopter with Wanganui mayor Annette Main to survey the damage after torrential rain last weekend.
After the meeting at the Wanganui District Council Chambers, Mr Key said the first priority was to address damage to homes and roading.
"I will need to go back and talk to the Finance Minister and Cabinet colleagues to see how much assistance we can make available," he said.
"We have an emergency situation with Silver Fern Farms and 350 workers unable to get there so we need to address that."
Mr Key said he was unsure about the of $120 million estimated by Horizons Regional Council for the cost of recovery, but said that central government was committed to supporting the councils in the region.
"It's hard to believe we won't be doing more," he said.
Ms Kaye congratulated the mayors in the region for the excellent work they had achieved during the past week and those nearby like Palmerston North Council for sending staff over to help.
"We will be working alongside mayors and councils and we have already topped up the Taranaki Rural Relief fund by $50,000," she said.
Mr Key also met with Red Cross and Civil Defence volunteers at a welfare centre at Wanganui Girls College before leaving.
Twenty households have been red stickered due to damage from the floods, and 200 rural households were still isolated.
Isolated areas were being assisted by helicopter services, and Red Cross and Rural Fire were also visiting residents to check on their welfare.
The Wanganui Civil Defence was continuing to update residents on its Facebook page.
More wet weather forecast
More rain is on the cards for those in flood-affected areas of Wanganui.
Two fronts were moving up the country, which would bring some rain for the Wanganui area later today, and tomorrow, MetService meteorologist Rob Kerr said.
"There will be a period of showers for the Wanganui area. It's not a significant amount in the general terms but obviously they are quite sensitive to rainfall there at the moment.
"We are expecting showers to start around the hills, just some light stuff, from this afternoon maybe getting a bit heavier towards the evening, and then easing overnight.
"This is nowhere near on the same scale of the event recently, this is more just a period of showers, we are talking a few millimetres of rain at a time really, as opposed to the heavy stuff we had before."
A spokeswoman for Wanganui Civil Defence, Sue Dudman, said while the rain was not forecast to be as heavy as last weekend, there was still some concern.
"We've already got so many slips and things on our roads, so we do expect that there will be more stuff coming down. But obviously it's not going to be anything like we've had.
"We're just asking people if they are out on the roads which are not cleared, just to be careful."
Volunteer groups had done an amazing job of beginning to clear rural roads in the area, but there was a long road ahead, she said.
- The Wanganui Chronicle and NZME. News Service
