Next: creepy, crawly pests

Nelson and Golden Bay flood and slip victims kept out of their homes by compulsory orders might face one more problem when they’re allowed back – an infestation of rats, mice, cockroaches and maggots.

Nelson’s Pest Management and Training Services manager Stephen Fryer, who has 30 years in the business, said homes where the power had been cut or turned off were particularly vulnerable. Pests would arrive soon after the contents of freezers and fridges warmed up and began leaking around the seals.

He said this would draw ‘‘anything that sucks or chews into organic matter’’ and temperature was a big factor.

‘‘If a place is in a very cold, windy area it’s going to take longer. But if it’s in the Aniseed Valley in the middle of summer it could take only days. They’ll sniff out bad hygiene. It’s a written invitation.’’

The leakage was difficult to remove once it had spread across vinyl or tiles into the edges of carpets, he said, and might require the help of professional cleaners. He had dealt with such cases in the past, for example where a freezer had failed at a holiday home.

Mr Fryer said it was impossible to deal with the problems while people were barred from their homes. He had warned both councils ‘‘from day one’’ that pests would become an issue and they had explained that it couldn’t be dealt with until access was once again allowed.

The good news was that vermin of all types were easy to get rid of by experienced people who knew what they were doing, Mr Fryer said.

Nelson-tasman group recovery manager Peter Thomson said he wasn’t aware of any issues with vermin at this stage. ‘‘There is potential for it, and we would be alerting people to the fact that there’s a possible issue that they may find when they re-enter premises.’’ They would need to contact pest control operators but if it was deemed to be ‘‘a significant, widespread issue’’ they should tell their council.

‘‘I don’t know that there were that many properties where the power was off for a long period, so that may help the situation.’’

Urgent Sinclair, a tenant from the still-evacuated apartment block the Waterfront on Wakefield Quay, last week said she was concerned about vermin ‘‘because the food’s still in the fridge and there’s no electricity’’.

But body corporate chairman Tony Gowans said he had been in the building with an inspection team yesterday and the power was on in all the parts he visited. ‘‘We’re not sure it ever went off. We saw no evidence of vermin at all,’’ he said.

If there had been a lengthy power cut to the 13-apartment building, ‘‘we don’t know how many people cleaned out their fridges and freezers, and that’s one of our major problems’’.

Mr Gowans said there was a smell coming from drying clay, surface water in some spots and wet carpets, ‘‘but there’s nothing else that I could see’’.

He said contrary to rumours, engineers had advised that the building was very sound.

‘‘It’s just a matter of getting rid of the mud, that’s all – and finding out what caused it.’’

He was hoping to get some direction from EQC this week.