The wait is nearly over for residents and holiday-makers left stranded in Lake Ōhau village since Tuesday morning.
Floodwaters washed out the only bridge into the alpine village, with crews working in the rain and cold for days to restore access.
Clean-ups are underway across Te Waipounamu following the severe storm, but the risk of flooding hasn't receded.
Tess Brunton has more.
Ashburton Mayor Neil Brown is calling for more central government funding for mitigation work to get shingle out of the district's rivers, and to help protect from future extreme weather events.
"Climate change is here. These events are happening more often. Councils can't rate for events that may happen in the future. We can only rate for monies that we're going to spend in that one year that we're going to spend it. We don't have slush funds to put money away."
He says local government leaders need to co-fund work with central government to mitigate climate change events.
