Two armies - one of soldiers and the other students - are on their way to South Westland to help boost the manpower to help with rebuilding the Waiho Bridge and cleaning up the rubbish-strewn beaches.
The NZ Defence Force will focus on reinstating the Bailey bridge washed out at Franz Josef Glacier a week ago today. Parts have already been trucked through the Haast Pass. The trusses will be made then rolled out on to the bridge.
Meanwhile, the Christchurch Student Army, formed after the Christchurch earthquake, will bring grunt to the efforts to clean up the beaches.
Last Tuesday's flood also sliced open the old rubbish dump alongside the Fox River, sending mountains of rubbish downstream into the Cook River and then out to sea. Some was washed up as far south as Karangarua but most went north as far as Okarito.
As well as old tyres and buried rubbish, material stored at the current recycling depot was carried away by the floodwaters, adding plastics to the mix.
Lieutenant Colonel Terry McDonald, commanding officer of the 2nd Engineer Regiment, said 18 personnel would be working with the New Zealand Transport Agency and engineering and construction company Downer.
"It is great to contribute our professional expertise to support government agencies responding to communities that need our assistance."
Downer had requested the Defence Force's support for the reconstruction of the seven-span bridge, he said.
Once completed, the new 170m structure will be one of the longest Bailey bridges army engineers had been involved in building since World War 2, Mr McDonald said.
The Student Army is expected this weekend or early next week.
Okarito resident Mike Bilodeau is co-ordinating the clean-up and met with the West Coast Regional Council, Westland District Council and Department of Conservation yesterday to come up with a plan.
Some local helicopters operators were offering to donate flights to get people on to the beaches.
"A plan of action will be established by the end of today. It will be in effect tomorrow or the next day."
Mr Bilodeau said it was hard to know if they had enough manpower, but everyone was welcome to pitch in.
"We should be able to blitz it pretty hard."
Photographs show a digger at work on the Fox Glacier site yesterday, but the dump had not been capped at that stage as there was timber in the way.
This is not the first time rubbish from old landfills has strewn West Coast beaches.
Last February, it was Greymouth's turn to clean the beaches after the old Cobden rubbish dump was scoured out in Cyclone Fehi.
The same storm exposed an old landfill on the beach at Hector, and in 2013 rubbish from Reefton's old dump was swept down the Inangahua River after erosion.
- By Laura Mills
