18 July 2021
The level of devastation in Westport has been revealed - with most houses in the central area of the town under water up to window-level.
More rain is expected to hit flood-stricken Westport as residents return to their damaged homes to start the long clean-up process and farmers reflect on their "soul-destroying" losses.
Metservice has issued a heavy rain watch for Buller and the ranges of Westland from 6pm on Wednesday to 5am on Thursday.
It says 40mm to 60mm of rain is expected with peak intensities of 15mm to 25mm and hour as well as possible thunderstorms.
The forecast rain comes as the assessment of the damage to houses and farms, including stock deaths in the Buller District, continues.
While it will take some time to fully complete the assessments, "rapid" checks of most houses in Westport were done yesterday and by the afternoon most of the community were able to head home.
That didn't mean their homes are habitable, just that it was safe for occupants to enter, survey the damage and start the clean-up.
Pete Morrison has lots hundreds of cows in the flooding. Photo / File
Farmers were also starting to count the cost.
Hundreds of dead cows have started to wash up on Westport Beach and riverbeds after the animals were washed away in the raging flood.
Authorities estimated around 1000 livestock died in total when floodwaters ravaged the Buller District. More than half of them are dairy cows from one farm.
Pete Morrison, the Canterbury-based owner of a farm bordered by Buller River, described the loss as "gut-wrenching".
Despite not living on the farm - he has staff who manage it for him - the deaths were still hard to deal with.
"It's soul-destroying ... it shouldn't have happened."
"You spend years breeding these things... f**k... it's just gut-wrenching," he said.
Morrison, a highly experienced farmer and former chairman and director of Westland Milk Products, did not have an exact number yet of how many animals had died but said it was "a lot".
He said the river that had taken his stock was known to "come up and then go down".
"It's happened many, many times since I've owned the place - but this is the first time it's done this," he said.
"It was just a series of little things ... they should have been all right where they were, it [the water] just got that much higher and they floated away pretty quick ..."
Homeowners Derek and Joan Roberts were also coping with loss yesterday as they returned to their home of 20 years, taking the Herald in with them.
Their carpet and everything that touched was saturated when filthy river water invaded their dwelling on Friday night.
Westport locals heading home after being given the all-clear by authorities. Photo / George Heard
"As communities start assessing the scale of the event and the needs of those affected, such as short-term and medium-term accommodation for those whose homes are uninhabitable, insurers are here to help," chief executive Tim Grafton said.
"It won't be until the areas are fully accessible over the course of the week before insurers' assessors will be able to get to the affected places to review the damage and what's needed for the recovery.
"Clearing silt, drying out houses, getting resources and tradespeople into the region to undertake repairs will all take time and insurers will do everything they can to help their customers as quickly as possible."
Houses, cars, farms and streets remain under water in the Buller District. Photo / George Heard
Buller District mayor Jamie Cleine estimated up to 1000 animals had been killed, many "heavily pregnant" dairy cows.
Contractors had been hired to start removing the carcasses.
Cleine, a farmer himself, said he was concerned for the rural community, but his focus has been on the town centre and getting that up and running.
"I'd like to get out and about and check farmers are doing okay as well."
"It will be devastating for some - for some it's whole herds or close to it," he said.
"It's really widespread."
On Sunday the Government confirmed it would offer $300,000 in the form of a mayoral relief fund for Westport.
In addition, it would put up $200,000 for flood-affected farmers and growers across the West Coast and in Marlborough, which was also affected by the weekend's flooding.
