A partly-submerged car outside flooded houses on Disraeli St, Westport.
Photo: Supplied/NZ Defence Force
The one-in-100-year flood forced 2000 people - half the town - to evacuate and many could be homeless for months, as they wait for houses to be stripped, dried out and repaired.
The township was effectively cut off as an island between a 12m flood in the mighty Buller River and raging floodwaters in the usually placid Orowaiti River.
Birchfield said the regional council proposed setting up a rating district for Westport four years ago to pay for river protection and other work that would mitigate the flood risk to homes and property.
Floodwaters at the Wairau River at the Southern Valleys intake, Marlborough.
Photo: Supplied/Marlborough District Council
The weekend s storm forced hundreds to evacuate, caused widespread damage to infrastructure including roads and bridges, and devastated farms in Buller, West Coast, Nelson, Tasman, and Marlborough - as well as causing more sporadic damage in surrounding regions.
The downpours brought Marlborough s largest floods on record.
Federated Farmers Marlborough president Scott Adams said more than 300mm had fallen on his sheep farm near the Wairau River in 48 hours, and parts were devastated. We re probably looking at between $100,000 and $250,000 worth of damage to land and infrastructure, so it s a lot of hard work and a lot of money.
As the floodwaters started to go down on Monday morning, Nothando Ndebele was able to get down the flooded street to see her home for the first time since the storm struck. “We’re used to having rain in Westport. We saw the water coming, but thought it’d be fine. “We left Friday night, thinking Saturday morning, we’ll be back in the house.”
Peter Meecham
Nothando Ndebele reacts to seeing her flooded family home up close for the first time since they evacuated on Friday. When her husband went back to check on it on Sunday, he had to brave chest-deep water to get inside, and it was up to his knees throughout the house.
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