Emergency management minister Mark Mitchell this morning announced Southland would get $75,000 and Clutha $25,000 "for immediate needs".
“The Government’s contribution to the Mayoral Relief Funds meets the request from local leadership and will support local welfare, resilience building and recovery efforts, including clean-up.
“This has been a tough few days for impacted communities, and unfortunately, we’re not out of the woods just yet."
In a release just over an hour later, Mr Mitchell announced a further $50,000 from the Ministry of Primary Industries, to be split between the two councils.
The money would be channelled through the mayoral relief fund "to help the rural sector get back on its feet".
The fund is now also being opened to accept donations from the public.
"Any person or organisation wishing to donate to the Clutha District Mayoral Relief Fund can deposit funds into the Clutha District Council bank account 03 1734 0061851 02," it said. "When making a donation please use the reference 'Mayoral Relief Fund'."
“The generosity, aroha and compassion coming from Clutha’s people has been in full display over the last few days and this fund allows us to provide relief and support to the people that need it most," Clutha District Mayor-elect Jock Martin said.
"The effects of the weather event will be felt well beyond the declared state of emergency. We are in for a long haul ahead, with a long recovery period expected."
The initial $100,000 contribution provoked a strong reaction on social media with dozens of commenters on the ODT Facebook page critical of what they thought was an inadequate amount.
Dairy farmers face week without power
It could be a week before Southland dairy farms have electricity restored as the province remains under a state of emergency.
Southland Emergency Management controller Jack Rudolph said in an update this morning many urban areas and critical services now have power.
"A focus is now on cell sites and dairy farms. It could be up to week to restore power for these customers," he said.
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Thursday’s brief but devastating storm downed power poles and brought trees down on lines across the region, cutting electricity to an estimated 66,000 properties in Otago and Southland.
In an update just after 8pm, PowerNet said about 7,850 customers were still disconnected across Southland and South Otago.
That included about 5,450 in Southland and 2,400 in Otago.
Eighteen cell towers also remain down.
Mr Rudolf said wastewater treatment plants were returning to normal but a few were still relying on generators.
Emergency Management Southland was working with farmers to identify generator needs for milking sheds and stock water.
"Generators are being sourced and will be distributed to those in areas where the power is likely to remain off for some time.
"Large generators coming to Southland are being prioritised to critical services initially and then will be redistributed as power is restored."
Water is expected to be restored to Winton and Ohai townships by 8pm Monday.
'Huge progress' in South Otago
Clutha District Council has been distributing Starlink portable satellite internet kits to isolated communities with the help of the NZ Defence Force.
The council said 900 properties had power restored yesterday and "huge progress" had been made between Owaka and the Clutha Valley.
"Tuapeka West and Clydevale plants are now operating and producing water, Clinton should be receiving water by end of day."
A boil water notice was in place for most of the district.
The Cross Recreation Centre in Balclutha would be open between 1pm and 4pm for showers, refreshments and power for those in need.
Simpson Park was open again today in Lawrence between 10am-5pm, where Red Cross are on site and completing needs assessments.
Five days to restore power
Electricity network PowerNet chief executive Paul Blue said it could be five days before power was fully restored across the region.
"We’re now at the point where areas may take longer to restore as they are more complex and with widespread damage. People should prepare to be without power for several days yet."
Initial estimates had been 500 poles and lines down across the region but the true number was expected to be far higher, he said.
"Please bear with us. We are doing everything we can and our teams are out there to help you.
"We understand the hurt that is out there in the dairying community. We are prioritising where we can."
Tuatapere farmer Kaylene Bennett told the Otago Daily Times after she managed to milk her cows, she had dumped an estimated $16,000 of product because she could not chill it.
Cows could develop sicknesses, such as mastitis, or "dry-up" for the season if they were not milked.
Mr Blue said PowerNet was also working closely with communication companies to restore cell towers — of the 130 towers sent offline Thursday, 80 had been restored.
Homes with restored power were not guaranteed continuous supply as it might need to be switched off while other parts of the network were repaired.
About 160 people were working in the field today, expected to grow to 220 tomorrow.
He urged extreme care when clearing debris — downed lines should be treated as live and reported to PowerNet and generators should be connected by a qualified electrician.
Also speaking in Invercargill, Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell said there was a clear requirement for generators in rural communities.
Three trailer-mounted generators, for cell towers, and 20 smaller generators were delivered to the region at the weekend by an Air Force Hercules aircraft.
Further central government support was expected to assist with the cleanup, Mr Mitchell said.
"This is going to take a week or two — it’s a big recovery because of the amount of damage.
"People start to get fatigued. We need to think about welfare issues, especially for the rural sector."
Emergency Management Southland controller Lucy Hicks said the states of emergency were expected to continue into this week.
The organisation was working with Federated Farmers and the Ministry of Primary Industries to prioritise the smaller generators which would be redistributed as power was restored.
Rain and snow were forecast across the South later today and Ms Hicks encouraged people to check on neighbours and have heating sources organised.
The region’s state highways were open with the exception of Milford Rd (SH94), which closed yesterday until further notice between Cascade Creek to Donne River due to avalanche risk.
The Otago-Southland rail network was restored, but some level crossing lights were not working — motorists should exercise extreme caution at crossings, Ms Hicks said.
His dairy farm had been without power since Thursday afternoon but milking there and at a nearby farm continued thanks to a generator bought by his father James about two years ago.
"We were able to milk twice a day, we were lucky.
"Wouldn’t have been much fun [without it]."
Aurora Energy future network and operations general manager Matt Settle said the storm had caused "unprecedented damage" across the Dunedin network.
In a statement yesterday afternoon, he said the company was confident any remaining outages on its network would be resolved by that evening.
At the outage’s peak, an estimated 16,000 customers across Otago were without power — yesterday afternoon Aurora Energy’s website reported fewer than five customers were affected.
Mr Settle thanked contractors for their work and customers for their patience.
"It’s taken a mammoth effort from everyone to ensure customers across our network have access to the electricity they rely on following such a widespread damage to our assets."
