By Maia Hart, Local Democracy Reporter
Every isolated community in Marlborough has made contact with Civil Defence and officials are optimistic the Blenheim to Nelson highway will partially re-open next week.
Flooding in Rai Valley on Saturday. Photo: Supplied / Marlborough District Council
Waka Kotahi top of the south transport systems manager Andrew James said crews would be working hard throughout the weekend with the aim of re-opening key sections of SH6 early next week.
Temporary speed restrictions and traffic and traffic management would be in place, James said.
He said he was "optimistic" SH6 between Havelock and Rai Valley could be re-opened by Tuesday morning, and SH6 between Nelson and Blenheim by Wednesday morning.
Waka Kotahi was aiming to reopen State Highway 63 - Renwick to St Arnaud - during the week of September 12, with restrictions in place while repairs took place.
Residents in Rai Valley, on SH6, are trapped, with slips on either side of the township. Meanwhile, isolated communities in the outer Marlborough Sounds are relying on boats and barges to get essential supplies. The stretch of SH6 from Renwick to Havelock has reopened to the public, but with drivers should expect delays.
Emergency Management Minister Kieran McAnulty was back in Marlborough on Thursday travelling around the region in a Civil Defence ute.
He stopped at Havelock to meet Rural Support Trust members Chris Bird and Chris Faulls, before heading out to Rai Valley.
Rural Support Trust members Chris Faulls, left, and Chris Bird, meet with the Minister for Emergency Management Kieran McAnulty in Havelock on Thursday. Photo: Anthony Phelps / Stuff
"It's giving me an idea of where the welfare response is, and where the recovery is, where we are at with the roads and also what possible additional support the Government could provide."
He said it was important to meet with people in the Rai Valley because the first focus had been on people who had been displaced.
"Then we're focussing on the roads and reconnecting with communities. But for me, having a focus on the rural communities, you have to think about farmers' welfare, but also animal welfare as well.
"It's incredibly difficult for dairy farmers in particular, when they're producing this high value product, and they can't get it out."
He was "reassured" after Civil Defence said it had made contact with "every isolated area" in Marlborough.
"They have a gauge on what their needs are at the moment, that is really reassuring and a testament to them, I think.
"But that's going to be ongoing, the longer they're isolated the more issues will arise.
"So the work that of the Rural Support Trust in connecting in those communities and then feeding it back is crucial."
McAnulty completed a flyover of the Marlborough region on Monday, after visiting Nelson with Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern. McAnulty announced on that trip Marlborough was getting mayoral relief fund of $100,000. He topped Nelson's relief fund up to $200,000.
On Thursday he said he wanted to acknowledge the work from Marlburians and other workers and volunteers that had gone into the response.
The two main roads connecting Blenheim and Nelson were badly damaged by flooding last week and remain closed this weekend.
A washed out section of SH6 from Nelson to Rai Valley. Photo: Supplied / Waka Kotahi
Waka Kotahi maintenance and operations acting national manager Mark Owen said people had anecdotally said this rain event was bigger than last July's floods.
"Particularly for the local Marlborough District Council network, and where we see two major highways closed, that is significant," Owen said.
He said the "telling stat" for him was that the Rai Valley had received more than a metre of rain over four days.
"It's on the back of three other significant events in the last 13 months, and it was over three or four days when we just kept getting waves of bad weather coming in, causing significant damage."
He said Fulton Hogan, the main roading contractor in Marlborough, had pulled in workers from outside the region.
"There's no shortage of resources, the challenge is getting access to some of these areas.
"Particularly with some of these Marlborough Sounds roads, it's a dead-end road, you've only got one way of getting in there.
"But we're comfortable we've got enough resources to deal with our first response ... which is to get at least one open, that's our key focus.
"Then we'll move into a recover phase, which is how do we put back was in place, or better."
Local Democracy Reporting is Public Interest Journalism funded through NZ On Air