Relief to the tune of $100,000 for flood-affected Nelson Tasman residents in the immediate term has opened.
The Mayoral Relief Fund for both districts was announced by Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell this afternoon after a bird's eye view survey of the extensive damage to a swathe of rural communities today.
The minister says an extra surge of central government support for the agricultural and horticultural areas was being worked through.
“MPI are present on the ground, there's going to be some MSD requirements… and we'll continue to work together to identify what we need to do in the medium to long term with the recovery,” he says.
Nelson Tasman Civil Defence group controller Alec Louverdis says on initial assessments one property each in Nelson and Tasman districts has been yellow stickered meaning the identified buildings may have sustained moderate damage and access is restricted.
"We understand that as we work through the assessments and we have completed Tapawera, Riwaka, Motueka Valley and Brightwater... we're still anticipating that there will be some either yellow or red stickers,” he says.
“We are busy moving through the Moutere, north of Wakefield and Ngātīmoti at the moment... I don't know the exact number of houses that have been assessed, but certainly we're trying to get through all those areas...
“We're also trying to make our way up into individual valleys to make sure that we haven't missed any individual people and those isolated communities.
“At this time things are looking pretty good…thank goodness that we don't have any more.”
Alec urged Nelson Tasman to get ready for more predicted heavy rain on Thursday and Friday with civil defence “preparing for the worst-case scenario”.
“[Metservice] has indicated that in some places, it will be receiving about 150 millimetres, which is not good news for us, especially with everything so wet and inundated,” he says.
“We are still trying to respond to the initial event, everything is wet, the rivers are high, and we've just got to hope that they drop further before this weather event hits us.
“Don't put yourself in danger, make sure that you don't go near the rivers and seek help if you need it.”
While the Wakefield to St Arnaud route reopened at midday, slip-affected Rocks Rd will remain closed overnight, before reassessment on Monday to ascertain the work required for reopening.
The State Highway 6 section between Kohatu and Kawatiri also remains closed with contractors “working around the clock” to reopen it.
47 local roads are also currently closed.
Visit: www.nelsontasmancivildefence.co.nz/mayoral-relief-fund for Mayoral Relief Fund support and information.
