The Queenstown Lakes District Council received seven requests for service for burst pipes or water leaks after the deep freeze on Monday morning. One household reported no water, probably because of frozen pipes.
Four of the seven requests were from Wanaka.
More requests came yesterday - one from Kelvin Heights, two from Frankton and four more from Wanaka.
Arrowtown Plumbing Ltd owner Mark Galbraith said he had been inundated with 70 calls on Monday from Arrowtown and Queenstown householders who did not have water or whose pipes had burst.
The worst impact of the sub-zero temperature occurred on Sunday, when visitors returned to their rented house in Arrowtown to find it completely flooded, Mr Galbraith said.
Wanaka plumber Brendan Jarvie said his firm had been busy throughout the weekend attending to almost a dozen damaged pipes - three of them causing ceilings to collapse.
He was busy again yesterday afternoon as temperatures rose and pipes thawed to reveal cracks and leaks.
Mr Jarvie considered the cold snap to be as harsh as he had seen during his 30 years in Wanaka.
Queenstown tourism operation Shotover Jet will decide at 10am today if it will get its jet-boats back on the water today after being out of action for the past three days due to large blocks of ice floating on the Shotover River near Arthurs Point.
While ice usually built up in the sheltered canyon, it started unusually early this year.
General manager Clark Scott said on Monday the mercury dropped overnight "into the deep negatives".
"Can't beat Mother Nature.
"We're right at the start of the school holiday, which is frustrating for our customers who put Shotover Jet on their agenda as a must-do activity.
"Equally, for business reasons, staff don't get the hours they would normally.
"Hopefully, later on this week we'll get snow, which may assist in warming the river."
