Wild weather hit upper Waitaki this week, and flooding, slips and washouts resulted in several highway and local road closures and communities being cut off across the district.
Among those affected by the flooding are Omarama Station’s Richard and Annabelle Subtil.
Mrs Subtil’s family have lived at the station for 100 years and this week’s flooding was the worst they had experienced.
Recent snow meant the rain fell on already saturated ground, creating more problems than previous flooding events, Mr Subtil said.
"The rainfall was high, but it just sort of all combined to have more of an impact, undoubtedly ... than it ever has before," he said.
No stock or feed had been lost — the main damage was to culverts and fences.
"It’s going to make life interesting for a little while.
"I think the digger drivers and fencing contractors will be very popular for a while now."
At Glenbrook Station, south of Twizel, floodwaters were starting to recede, but there was still a lot of surface water at a "reasonably high" level, farmer Simon Williamson said.
"There’s not a lot you can do until the water goes down," he said.
It was the worst flooding he had seen in 19 years at Glenbrook Station, but there had been good warning the weather was coming.
Damage had been limited to fences and infrastructure, as he was able to get all of his stock to higher ground.
"Everything’s in the best place they can be."
Meanwhile, just up the road at Lake Ohau, great progress has been made to repair the bridge in Lake Ohau Rd and restore access to Lake Ohau Village.
The bridge, which was washed out on Tuesday morning, leaving residents, holidaymakers and about 150 Lake Ohau Lodge guests and staff stranded, was expected to reopen today.
Lake Ohau Lodge and Ohau Snow Fields owner Mike Neilson said guests who had finished their stay had been able to leave.
On Wednesday, Lake Ohau Lodge staff did 19 four-wheel-drive trips across farm paddocks so holidaymakers could return home or on to their next destination.
But many other guests remained at the lodge, and when Ohau Snow Fields was able to reopen late yesterday morning, they enjoyed having the mountain to themselves on a "lovely sunny day", skiing and snowboarding on 40cm of new snow.
The weather forecast was looking good for the weekend, and Mr Neilson was looking forward to being able to welcome people back to the lodge and skifield when the bridge reopened.
Waitaki Mayor Gary Kircher said council staff and contractors were facing a big clean-up job to get roads across the district back open, and he was "really pleased" with the progress that had been made so far.
"There is a lot of work to be done. It is going to take time to get around everything," Mr Kircher said.
"It’s been really good to see the speed some of the priority issues have been dealt with and looking forward to getting particularly that Lake Ohau access reinstated [today]."
Other badly affected roads in the Waitaki district included Omarama’s Broken Hut Rd and Awakino Skifield Rd, near Kurow. The approach to the Broken Hut Rd bridge was washed out, and about five families were stuck "on the wrong side of that", Mr Kircher said.
"We were in contact with various farmers and people on the other side of the closures ... making sure that they are coping with everything," he said.
