Mr Martin said he was pleased to have made the official declaration on behalf of the district, following the weather event of October 23.
"It is certainly great to be out of emergency mode and transitioning into recovery.
"A gargantuan effort has gone into getting us to this stage, and I’d like to personally thank all the people who have worked with us as a council, and especially the community, many of whom have done it hard through the past 15 days, without power, water and their usual resources. Your resilience and determination to get through has been a thing to behold."
Clutha District chief executive Steve Hill said the council was well on the way to transitioning to recovery planning while also maintaining situational awareness.
"We will be continuing to provide welfare support for those affected communities and assessing needs. Many people, particularly our rural community, will feel fatigue and frustration, even when the power and water is back on, because of the big cleanup and rebuilding task ahead. We will be here to provide support."
People with genuine need could apply to the Clutha District Mayoral Relief Fund.
That fund was boosted to $150,000 by the council after an initial $50,000 was provided by the government two weeks ago.
Last week, the government announced up to $70,000 of extra funding to help farmers in Southland, Clutha and Hurunui recover from the devastating storm damage.
Rural Communities Minister Mark Patterson and Agriculture Minister Todd McClay said the funding was on top of $250,000 already announced by the government to support storm-affected communities across Southland, Kaikōura, Hurunui and Clutha.
Stories of neighbours helping one another and community resilience continued to emerge as officials reached out into the district’s further-flung corners last week.
In a heart-warming turn, Toko Mouth farmer Simon Davies revealed he had found his dog, Murphy, unharmed and quietly waiting, after he spent about 40 minutes chainsawing through massive pieces of wood that had fallen and covered his kennel.
"The kennel was completely obliterated and I thought the dog was dead for all money," Mr Davies said.
After cutting his way to the kennel, he got down on his hands and knees and could see the Labrador retriever hunkered down.
"I poked my hand in and he moved.
"He hadn’t made a peep for the 40 minutes while I was working with the saw, and then he was actually fairly keen to get out."
The power was restored in Toko Mouth on November 2, and until then the farm had been powered by a 6kVA generator, he said.
The farm was still recovering from the damage caused by the floods in October last year when the storm hit.
He had been dealing with the "most urgent" repair work last week, but he knew there was a lot more work ahead.
"Look, it’s frustrating, but you have to kind of accept in the farming game weather is a big player and you can’t control it." — Additional reporting by Mark John
— Any farming families who need support can contact their local Rural Support Trust online or call 0800787254.
