James Burnside clung onto an empty bottle as he was swept down a flooded river, then had to claw through a kilometre of bush and scare off horses to get to safety.
Mayors of Ashburton, Selwyn and Waimakariri districts say the extended state of emergency will aid in the recovery of Canterbury's worst-hit flood areas.
File image.
Photo: RNZ / Rebekah Parsons-King
High Country farms up the Rakaia Gorge became cut off after their access road - Double Hill Run Road, was badly damaged.
Anna Hutchinson runs sheep and beef on Double Hill Station up the gorge with her husband Tim.
In their 20 years on the station it was the worst damage they had seen, she said. We ve had about 250mm of rain but the situation is getting better because the sun has come out - everyone is out clearing tracks and culverts, Hutchinson said. Fence lines have been wrecked and there s some flooding on farms east of us.