Amber Geerling and Luke Howden were finally able to return to their Gore home today after being forced to leave with a few belongings on Tuesday. Photo / Supplied
Amber Geerling and Luke Howden were finally able to return to their Gore home today after being forced to leave with a few belongings on Tuesday. Photo / Supplied
A Gore homeowner allowed back into his flood-ravaged street this morning says residents fell into each others' arms with a tear and hug.
Hokonui Breakfast radio host Luke Howden and his partner now fear their Ontario St home is damaged beyond repair after floodwaters filled the house up to knee-height.
Only photos and a TV hurriedly placed up high were saved as clothes, carpets and furnishings were destroyed and a smudgy waterline marked the walls, even though the home was raised on pilings.
Outside, a brown waterline marked the garden hedge about 1.5m-2m high, while firewood was scattered across the lawn and a creamy film coated everything.
Howden's street had been the first to evacuate in the rising floods and, this morning, the last allowed home to inspect the damage.
Total costs from the flood damage were expected to run into the millions of dollars, officials are yet to place an official figure on it.
Southland District Council said "significant" damage was done to key infrastructure, while Gore, Clutha and Queenstown-Lakes councils were also doing damage assessments.
Floodwater swept across Fiordland, Southland and South and West Otago from Monday and Wednesday.
Flooding in Gore and Balclutha. Photo / Steph Walsh
Dozens of roads were closed and farms submerged, while the town of Gore was cut off for more than 24 hours.
One Southland resident said the flood had been a "major natural disaster" and wanted to know why "our Prime Minister" had been "so quiet" about it.
"We need her support down here, farmers have lost millions of dollars of feed for livestock, cereals and crops," she said.
"Not to mention the thousands of dollars it will cost to repair and replace tracks, fencing and infrastructure."
Howden had been given just 15-20 minutes' warning on Tuesday afternoon before they had to wade through waist-high water and evacuate.
After breaching its banks, the Mataura river spills onto low lying land in Gore. Photo / Otago Daily Times
"It was licking on the back doorstep. We had the fire crews outside whistling for us to grab some things and get out," he said.
They packed a bag and grabbed a few photos together with their dog Scruffy and rushed out.
It left them dreading what they would find on their return, yet this morning Howden was feeling philosophical about the ordeal.
"We're appreciating that the things that matter have been saved and we're safe," he said.
The house was insured and the insurer had released emergency funds for the family and dispatched an assessor to go look at the home.
Residents were also pulling together. Being in such a small community, Howden said he been flooded with texts and Facebook messages of support, offering them everything from a sleepout to stay in to a person offering to wash their dog for them.
"In the face of tragedy like this you pull together," he said.
"When we turned up on the street everybody gave a big old hug and a few tears were shared."
Luke Howden and partner Amber Geerling fear they may never be able to live in their flood-damaged Gore home again. Photo / Supplied
There was also already the first signs of life moving on.
"Ten minutes ago, the rubbish truck turned up because it's rubbish collection day."
"When the street has been devastated like this, it was a real canny moment of normality."
Elsewhere Mataura residents Alison and George Bishop said their home had been flooded to about half a metre high which had left silt and brown sludge everywhere.
"The carpets are just saturated, and just a layer of muddy silt all over the house. I think we'll rip all the carpets out and just recarpet," Alison Bishop told RNZ National.
She was heartbroken because the couple had just renovated to get ready for their retirement.
Jon Pemberton, a dairy famer at Brydone, near Mataura, said an early estimate of $40,000-$50,000 damage had been done to his farm but there were bound to be more unknown costs.
Luke Howden and Amber Geerling only had time to grab Scruffy and a few belongings. Photo / Supplied
The speed of the floods had contributed to the damage, he said.
"The water travelled quicker than it has in the past," he told RNZ.
"That's what caught a lot of people out and just the sheer volume of rain ... to have in between 100mm and 200mm over a couple of days across the region is pretty unheard of."
