Mayors across the region met this morning to discuss the state of emergency, which has been extended until Tuesday, February 18.
Emergency Management Southland controller Angus McKay said it was decided at the meeting to keep the state of emergency in place for a further seven days. Members of all the local councils and other emergency services partners were at the meeting.
“We are still assessing the impact of the floodwaters in many areas in Southland and we have parts of Fiordland that are closed and need to remain so,” Mr McKay said.
A co-ordinated response led by Civil Defence in Southland is still needed at this stage.
Earlier, Southland District Mayor Gary Tong told Morning Report it could be another day before the water in Gore, Mataura and Otama was safe for drinking.
Not all of the houses that were damaged were insured, he said, and they were to be discussed in the recovery programme.
"All houses are able to be accessed. I understand there are three or four in Gore that are going to require major works before people can move back in."
He also addressed reports of looting in Mataura while homes were evacuated, saying if that was the case he would be totally gutted.
Tong said a lot of Southlanders - from farmers to residents to commercial operators - were tired but were keeping their heads high.
"Some people will have a hell of a lot more to do and a lot longer to recover, but the focus is to get them to recover."
Local Federated Farmers vice president Bernadette Hunt is imploring anyone who can help to get involved with the "farmy army".
"The water levels are receding and farmers are looking at the scale of the mess in front of them. It is completely overwhelming," she told Morning Report.
"We've been putting volunteers on to farms to help them cut through some of that mess as quickly as possible."
The biggest job is rubbish clearance and more specifically clearing debris off fencelines.
"Any fence that went underwater now has a whole lot of rubbish attached to it and it is mostly green waste, you know grass and leaves, and it renders the fences useless because you can't make them electric which allows them to contain stock," Hunt said.
"An individual farm might have 500 acres and lots of fencelines all around the boundary plus within it. So the paddocks have come out from under the water but are effectively useless because they are not stock-proof. The job is huge."
She said over the last two days about 150 volunteers stepped in to help.
"Every paddock that went underwater is now dirty ... ironically we need a shower of rain on those paddocks to clean the muck off the grass so that the cows can eat it."
Paddocks near rivers were covered in gravel and looked like a riverbed now, she said.
Some farms didn't have enough feed for the stock but people were helping each other out, she said.
"Baleage is moving all around the province to ensure that stock are fed."
The government will contribute $100,000 to the Southland regional Mayoral Relief Fund. A decision on where the money will go is at least a week away.
Road to Milford Sound 'to take a huge amount of time'
The Transport Agency is telling motorists to plan for extra journey time in Southland and Otago.
State Highway 94 to Milford Sound is and will remain closed.
NZTA system manager Graeme Hall told Morning Report there were also speed restrictions in places where the road surface was not yet up to standard.
"We need people to reduce their speed and take care. There might not be centre lines or it might be very muddy on the top and a lot of gravel."
He said most highways should be back soon depending on the weather over the next three or four weeks.
"But for the Milford road, that is going to take a huge amount of time we think. It is significant damage we haven't experienced for a long time.
"At the moment we're looking at if we can get through to the Hollyford Corner, between there and Homer Tunnel there's significant damage."
He said the a road for emergencies though the tunnel and then through to Milford Sound was essential. There's only air travel or boat travel to Milford currently.
"If the weather is not right then we need a road for emergencies - so that's our priority. We're hoping to get that provided this week and we're going well on that. But to have a road suitable for tourists is a much longer work job and we're still reviewing ways that we can get it open quickly and do the repairs as we go."
There was another storm coming in a week or two so there was a need to bring the road up to a standard that could withstand another storm, he said.
He said they were in conversations with the Department of Conservation and tourism operators.
