The cost of temporary remediation work near a river which burst its banks in Franz Josef last month has already reached half a million dollars.
The Waiho River burst its banks and ran through the Mueller Hotel in Franz Josef in March 2016. Photo: RNZ / Conan Young
Almost 200 people had to be evacuated when the Waiho River smashed its way through a stopbank, carving a path through a hotel.
At a meeting a week after the flooding, the West Coast Regional Council and the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) agreed to spilt the cost of temporary repair works.
NZTA spokesman Peter Connors said a plan was being put in place for permanent river works but temporary work had been completed.
"We've extended the bank where it breached the Scenic Hotel, because it was an existing bank and that's basically been extended past there and rocked up, but it's a low level of protection and the moment in that area."
Mr Connors said due to the riverbed rising, a bridge on the south side of the town would have to be lengthened and raised, which would cost $1.5 million.