The government has injected $200,000 into the mayoral relief fund for Nelson, Tasman and Marlborough as the weather causes extensive damages to roads and property across the regions.
Minister for Emergency Management Kieran McAnulty was visiting the Group Emergency Operations Centre in Richmond today after visiting flood-hit regions in the upper South Island.
He announced a $200,000 contribution to the mayoral relief fund across the Nelson/Tasman region.
"There is damage to property, there is damage to many areas of the city, that this mayoral relief fund can assist with," he said.
McAnulty said today's relief fund was an initial contribution and as the welfare and community need became clearer the government would "reassess" the need.
Wild weather has been causing chaos across the country, with a state of local emergency in place for the Nelson-Tasman and West Coast regions.
As he was taken around the damage, McAnulty said were two images which stuck in his mind today; watching a hill flow on down, "like pouring yoghurt out of a container" and a road scoured out by the flood.
He had only been there for a few hours when the briefing started, but long enough to see the extent of the damage, he said.
Occupants of 233 homes near the Maitai River in Nelson were evacuated after the river burst its banks, and another 10 households in the Tahunanui Hills have had to leave because of a slip.
In the Richmond Ranges, which run between Nelson and Marlborough, locals say rivers and creeks are running higher than they have ever seen them.
The worst-affected areas are Canvastown, Rai Valley, Pelorus, and Okiwi Bay.
Nelson Mayor Rachel Reese said there was potential for more slips and flooding in Nelson and therefore potential for more evacuations.
People should stay off the road, she said.
There was damage throughout the city and to people's homes, some of which would be uninhabitable, she said.
Damage to homes:
- Roughly 20 percent of the homes assessed in Nelson Tasman District have been either yellow or red stickered.
- 308 houses have now been evacuated across the district since the severe weather came in yesterday.
- 104 have been assessed today for damage and roughly 20 of those have the two-tiered stickers.
- additional reporting NZ Herald
