A wild year of storms has resulted in record insurance payouts for weather-related claims with damage of more than $240 million.
The floors of Blanket Bay resident Gordon Sasse’s back shed are still caked with mud, almost five months after July’s downpour. Photo: Tim Brown / RNZ
But while many have been able to move on with their lives, this year's weather events have had longer lasting effects for others.
A deluge on 21 July and 22 brought more than 100mm of rain to many parts of coastal Otago and South Canterbury, causing flooding and slips.
And while the rain has long since stopped and the floodwaters receded, for some the mess remains.
In Blanket Bay, a tranquil harbourside area north of Dunedin, Gordon Sasse is still coping with the mountains of mud that the downpour brought.
Mr Sasse said the mess which still surrounded his property was soul destroying and he was in limbo, yet to reach a settlement with EQC.
"They do their assessment and then you're waiting for months," he said. "They commit to nothing. You're powerless and helpless."
Walking around his property the devastation was plain to see. Where perfectly manicured gardens once looped to a quaint barn, now sits a valley of mud as high as 2m in places.
Gordon Sasse still has piles of mud, some about two metres high, surrounding his property. Photo: Tim Brown / RNZ
A layer of mud is still caked on the carpet of the barn. "It just gets worse and worse," he said.
"A simple clean up job becomes a complete reconstruction and it's unnecessary."
There was still at least 300 cubic metres of mud to move just from around the barn area, he said.
EQC confirmed 166 claims had been lodged in Otago due to the downpour and less than 40 percent had been settled.
In a statement, EQC said many were landslip claims, which were complex and took time to complete.
"However, we assure customers that we are working to settle all claims as quickly as possible and our goal is to always ensure customers are settled at their full entitlement under the act," the statement read.
The deluge also caused damage to roading networks in the area with $2.6 million spent on repairs in Otago and $720,000 in South Canterbury.
The NZTA said there was still almost $200,000 of work to be completed.
'We have gone from one extreme to the other'
Farmers also bore the brunt of the storm as pastures south of Dunedin sat underwater for days.
Dunedin City Councillor and farm owner Mike Lord said it had been a difficult time for those in the rural sector in the area.
"Post-July, the water went away and the ground has dried out and we had a reasonably good spring. But now we have gone dry," he said.
"We have gone from one extreme to the other and our concerns are no longer about moisture, but about how dry it's got."
The effects of July's weather was felt for some time after the floodwater receded, he said.
"There have been lingering effects, but the one which has been the worst is pasture damage," he said.
"Cows have done damage, they've made hoof prints that can be up to three or four inches deep."
The Insurance Council's chief executive Tim Grafton said this year's weather had caused massive insurance payouts.
"For a local area, a $31 million loss is very big," he said. "But in terms of losses for the year, we have got insured losses of $242 million."
The most costly weather event of the year was the remnants of Cyclone Debbie which battered the North Island and inundated Edgecumbe.
It cost insurers $91 million, he said.
"It's by far the worst year for weather-related claims going back to 1968 - the year of the Wahine disaster."