The flood waters are starting to recede in Otago and Canterbury, but the village of Lake Ōhau could be cut off for days.
An aerial view of the intersection of Lake Ōhau Road and State Highway 8. Photo: Waitaki District Council
Waka Kotahi has had a mammoth clean-up job to get roads back open again across the South Island today.
All road access to Lake Ōhau has been severed, right at a time when the village is bumper with visitors for the school holidays.
The flood waters washed out the sole bridge providing access to Lake Ōhau, and the Waitaki District Council says it hopes to have access restored by the weekend.
Waitaki mayor Gary Kircher said Lake Ōhau was a very popular place at this time of year, with about 150 visitors staying at the Ōhau Lodge, plus others staying in AirBnBs.
It is also a village with no shops.
"The Emergency Management Team are looking at how they can get some supplies into Lake Ōhau village," Kircher.
"Mainly for those who are staying there longer than they were planning to and don't have enough food for that."
This morning, Ōhau Lodge owner Mike Neilson led 19 four-wheel drives across a paddock for people who needed to leave.
"We took a convoy of guests who had finished their stay here, and did a convoy and went across the farm paddocks. (I was there) to keep them in order and make sure they didn't wander off and not quite follow the right route and get lost and stuck."
Ōhau resident Hugh Spiers said locals tend to be self-sufficient, but he was still desperate for the bridge to reopen.
On Monday he was expecting a long awaited delivery of Gib board that was needed to make repairs after the massive fire in the village in 2020.
"We're just on the rebuild programme at the moment after the devastating fires of 2020. We've had floods and fires, and we just don't need locusts. Hopefully that's the next thing that's not going to happen."
Access to Omarama was also cut off yesterday due to flooding, but was restored again this morning.
At the Omarama Top 10 Holiday park one of the owners, Irwin Beiboer, said they were just starting to assess the extent of the damage, but at least 12 units had been damaged.
"At the moment (we) have the fire brigade here pumping the rest of the water away from us, as the water just doesn't go anywhere. The roads are all completely destroyed here at the park, units completely destroyed. There's a lot happening."
The downpour also brought down massive boulders, some the size of a car, along State Highway Six, west of Murchison.