The money

However, to do that they needed money.

Insurance Council of New Zealand (ICNZ) chief executive Tim Grafton confirmed claims totalled nearly $30 million — just for Southland.

Commercial claims made up about $20 million of that, while house and contents made up about $8 million; motoring about $1 million; other, which included materials such as crops or fences, was about $170,000; and marine related damages accounted for about $60,000.

As far as ICNZ was aware, there were no outstanding claim payments.

If there were, the information would lie with insurance companies themselves.

While conversations with insurers continued, the Government stepped in.

Three national streams of funding were quickly introduced to assist in the recovery: $100,000 from the Ministry for Primary Industries, which went to the Southland Rural Support Trust; $100,000 from the Ministry of Defence for the Mayoral Relief Fund; and $500,000 from ACC to establish a recovery team, Taskforce

Green.

That team was never formed and the money for it was not used.

Southland Mayoral Forum chairman Tracy Hicks said more than $150,000 of the Mayoral Relief Fund was spent, which included more than $50,000 left over from the 1984 floods fund.

Across the four councils in Southland, 60 applications were received for funds: 65% for individuals, 19% for businesses and 16% for farming related costs.

Regionally, 80% of applications were from the Mataura/Gore area and 20% were from Te Anau.

Members of the public gave just over $5000 to the cause.

Some of the most common uses for the money included replacing household items, lost revenue for businesses, vehicles and machinery, school resources and children’s car seats.

In July, Regional Economic Development Minister and Infrastructure Minister Shane Jones awarded Southland

$25 million from the Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) — part of the Government’s infrastructure funding for ‘‘shovelready’’ climate resilience and flood protection projects.

It will support three projects. One will look at the stopbank infrastructure in Invercargill; funding for the other two projects includes just over

$10 million towards upgrading and raising the Gore, Mataura and Wyndham stopbanks by 600mm, and $800,000 for erosion repairs on the Waiau River, following a flood in December.

This includes the stopbank which has been allegedly a problem in Gore.

Some of the work projects for the year 202021 include rock work on the Mataura stopbanks, and upgrading and extending the stopbank at Boundary Creek, upstream of the Mataura township.

Environment Southland chief executive Rob Phillips said most of the projects programmed for this year would be completed by the end of the financial year.

The rest of the shovelready projects would be completed within three years.

He was confident ES was wellequipped to deal with future severe weather events and the increasing risk posed by climate change.

‘‘The fact that the floodwaters in Mataura largely stayed within the stopbanks during the 2020 floods is a testament to the importance of our flood protection infrastructure and the futureproofing that previous councils have undertaken.’’

A lot of resources went into ensuring staff and Southlanders were prepared, including having a team on standby to monitor rivers across the region.

‘‘When they reach a certain trigger point, we notify Southlanders so they can take precautions if they live in affected areas.’’ section of SH94 and was closed for 17 days.

The estimated cost to repair the six highways, for which NZTA was solely responsible, was $10.5 million.

Depending on weather conditions, the project was expected to be completed by early next year.

Department of Conservation southern South Island operations director Aaron Fleming said $13.7 million was allocated by the Government in Budget 2020 to repair tracks and huts in Milford Sound.

So far, the Milford and Routeburn Tracks were back up and running and the Howden Hut demolition project was completed.

The Hollyford Track had also reopened but was now categorised as a ‘‘backcountry adventurer’’ track to reflect a ‘‘lowerservice standard’’.

The Chasm and small side