It is unlikely a local state of emergency will be extended, Southland District Mayor Rob Scott says.
The state of emergency was declared on October 24 after gale-force winds caused widespread damage in Southland.
Mr Scott said now trees were being assessed and most people had power back on, this would lapse tomorrow.
Checking trees was now the priority and the council’s parks and reserves remained closed until this was done.
"We’ve got 15,000 of them in our control, so we’re going through and assessing those as quickly as we can, just to make sure that there’s no risk from any of them, and starting to identify some that need to come down.
"People do need to assume that the tree is dangerous until we say otherwise."
He had been hearing stories of people injured either by chainsaws or trees springing back when cut.
He urged people to be very careful.
"We’ve done very well to come through this whole incident without anyone being killed, so let’s hope we can get through to the end of it with that still intact."
Invercargill Mayor Tom Campbell said about 1000 trees in council reserves and parks had been damaged.
About 20% of the council’s parks and reserves including Queens Park, Bluff’s Gore St playground, Fosbender Park and Myross Bush Domain remain closed.
He suggested people check the council’s Facebook page to find out whether a park was open or not.
"The only reason that they’re still closed is because they’ve been inspected and they’re considered to still be a risk."
The council was selecting a site where people could drop green waste and scrap metal for free.
"We recognise that the volume of green waste and the volume of iron is such that it would simply overload the transfer stations if everybody brought them at the same time."
As of yesterday afternoon, 48 properties in Southland and 67 in South Otago were still without power.
