The state of emergency for Clutha District has been extended for another week.
It comes after Southland extended its state of emergency for a week last night.
In an update at about 5pm Friday, a PowerNet spokeswoman said 1900 properties in Southland and 1120 in South Otago were still cut off from the grid.
PowerNet chief executive Paul Blue said work on restoration was continuing, with more customers coming back on every day, but there were still some areas with significant damage that were yet to be restored.
"We are now getting into the really challenging portion of this work, where there is substantial damage that takes a lot of resources to fix but only restores power for a small number of customers.
"This means we can expect our numbers of people without power to drop more slowly and some of those without power may still be waiting for several days."
In extending the district's state of emergency, Clutha Mayor Jock Martin said earlier today he had followed advice from local Emergency Management controllers and officials.
By extending the state of local emergency, PowerNet would be able to continue their emergency work to reinstate and restore power to all communities, Martin said.
Rural communities could also continue to be fully supported in conjunction with the Ministry of Primary Industries (MPI).
“We are still very much in response mode,” Martin said.
“With 1470 [now 1120] properties without power, we still believe we are in a response mode more than recovery, and it is still very much an evolving situation.
"By staying in a state of emergency we are in a better position to provide our communities with the support they require while critical infrastructure is being reinstated.”
Extending the state of emergency by seven days gave Clutha the flexibility to lift the status if it was no longer required, he said.
The key concerns continued to be the number of properties without power, and the ongoing repair and reinstatement of critical infrastructure to support the needs of communities.
The wild winds knocked out power, water and wastewater systems supplies, and communications, and caused widespread damage, with many farming and small communities remaining isolated.
The water situation was also improving; however if was expected that there would be leaks and disruption to supplies, as more water schemes came back online, because of the damage to the infrastructure.
Emergency Management Otago Group Controller Matt Alley said: "Since the storm wreaked havoc in Clutha a week ago, 14,050 properties have had power restored and water and wastewater services are largely up and running. This is an incredible effort given the scale of damage with emergency responders and the community coming together and working to help each other.
"I recognise this is a difficult time for Clutha residents, particularly those still without power; however, the damage means it will take time to get things back up and running again."
- Allied Media
