Extreme rainfall and flooding has left roading and infrastructure across the Buller District in a fragile state and in urgent need of repair before further heavy rain hits the region.
Roads around Buller were impassable after heavy rains earlier this month. Photo: Supplied / Civil Defence
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern reinforced the government's support for Westport and the wider region during a visit to the West Coast this week.
She was briefed on the damage from recent flooding events by Buller Mayor Jamie Cleine, councillors and the local flood response team and visited some of the worst affected parts of the region.
When asked if the town of Westport should be moved away from the Buller and Orowaiti rivers, Ardern said that was up to the community.
"There is a range of options we need to talk about, the council is talking about what can be done to ensure that where homes already are, if they are being rebuilt, how can we do that in a way that ensures they don't get hit time and time again."
Cleine said addressing flooding issues in Westport required a multi-pronged approach with planning and building changes and hard protection structures.
Buller District Council's initial damage assessment has put the cost of damage caused by the two back-to-back severe weather events between $21.5 million and $43m.
There is a long list of repair works and Cleine said securing Westport's water supply, repairing the slip damaged Karamea Highway and addressing the compromised Reefton landfill were at the top of the list.
Westport's water reservoir had been affected by slips, with two of the three tributaries that feed the supply "running like mud".
Cleine said that meant every time it rained, the water was too turbid to be used.
"In good weather, we can pump from one of our raw water sources, roughly what the town uses but basically every time it rains, there are a couple of days before that we can't pump so we sort of [are] losing a day out of a reservoir every time that happens, so it's sort of like one step forward and then to back at the moment."
Council staff were considering if there were bores that could be used, alternative pumping sites or other measures to treat the water available.
"Westport's water could easily become a significant issue within a matter of weeks of if we don't get some some other options sorted," Cleine said.
As a result, Westport and Carter's Beach residents remain restricted to essential water use only and are also on boil water notices.
The Waimangaroa water supply remained fragile, with its supply line strapped to another pipe across an active slip, which meant it was "only one storm event away from not working", he said.
Along the Karamea Highway, Cleine said there were more than 30 slips, six of them significant.
The council is working with Waka Kotahi to determine the cost to repair the road, and Cleine said it was not a cost that ratepayers alone could afford.
Emergency Management Minister Kiri Allen is due to bring a paper to Cabinet in the near future, calling for funding for immediate repair work.
The council estimates it needs more than $10 million for immediate repairs to roads, water systems and the Reefton landfill.
While the flooding last July had a significant impact on residential Westport - with 70 homes red-stickered and another 400 yellow-stickered - the February rain and flooding caused widespread damage to roads, infrastructure and rural properties across the Buller District.
By last December, 10 percent of those houses had been repaired and had stickers removed and about half of those who were insured had settled.
Buller District Council deputy chief executive Rachel Townrow said at the briefing that when the extreme weather rain hit earlier this month, there were still a 100 or so people out of their homes from last July's flooding.
A further four houses were red-stickered and 18 yellow-stickered after the recent rain.
A temporary accommodation village being built on Alma Road was due to be finished before the end of the year. It had been estimated that three to five years on, there could still be up to 40 homes in need of repair.
Buller flood recovery manager Bob Dickson said the rural impacts across the region were significant.
"There's been a loss of production, fences destroyed, feed destroyed, paddocks silted, infrastructure damaged."
The Maruia and Inangahua areas had been greatly affected and on some farms, the flow and depth of water had topped 2m-high deer fences.
Dickson said 140 properties were receiving welfare assessments, with 77 completed and a rural connector was due to be appointed by the Rural Support Trust to provide further assistance.
Of the $140,000 in the Rural Mayoral Relief fund, $25,000 had gone to the rural connector position and the remainder would be used to cover uninsurable losses on affected properties.
A further $500,000 in funding for Enhanced Taskforce Green was announced on Wednesday enabling councils and agencies to hire jobseekers to help with flood clean-up.
