West Coast floods: Two hundred homes in Westport uninhabitable stuff.co.nz - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from stuff.co.nz Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Buller mayor Jamie Cleine previously told
Stuff the town had long been dealing with a lack of available rental properties or houses for purchase which meant there were few homes available for flooded residents.
Peter Meecham/Stuff Trade Me had one rental listed in the entire Buller district on Saturday. Cleine said with “next to no available rentals” already, the concerns now were about finding somewhere for displaced families to live either medium or long-term while houses were repaired or rebuilt. O’Connor said this was the biggest flood event he had seen in Westport over his lifetime, saying it was a one in 100 year event.
“It didn’t flood on Friday night, it flooded [on Saturday]. We were standing here watching it come up block-by-block, every half an hour or so. It was quite impressive.” Nearly half of Westport’s population was evacuated – and some rescued – from their homes on Friday and Saturday as the wider Buller region was battered by heavy rain. The warning was lifted early Sunday, and while some showers were still expected, Westport, the top of the South Island, and Wellington should finally get some reprieve. Rasmussen had to brave waist-deep water to get through his front door on Sunday.
Peter Meecham
Uninhabitable homes, livestock losses and damaged roads: Westport turns to flood recovery stuff.co.nz - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from stuff.co.nz Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.