‘Flabbergasted’ Mataura residents return to homes
A Mataura resident who arrived home to find his house flooded on Thursday says he is flabbergasted by the destruction.
Hundreds of residents of the town were evacuated on Wednesday after a state of emergency was declared because of flooding in Southland.
Norm Corbett arrived home about 6pm on Thursday to find his home flooded.
‘‘Everything was strewn everywhere. Everything that was on the floor is gone. There was absolutely nothing I could do,’’ he said.
‘‘I’m just flabbergasted,’’ Corbett said, fighting back tears.
Neighbours and friends were arriving one-by-one yesterday morning to help him carry his furniture out of the house.
‘‘You’ve just got to lean in,’’ Corbett said in response to a question about how he was doing.
Corbett has lived in his house for 13 years and while he’s experienced flooding before ‘‘it was nowhere near as bad as this’’.
His neighbours across the road have offered him a place to rest and Corbett said it’s likely he’ll have to stay there for a few days.
In the meantime, he’ll be waiting to hear from his insurance company.
Corbett acknowledged the excellent work done by police, council and civil defence.
Ron Cormack and Danya Soper had to make use of the Mataura Community Centre yesterday morning after returning home on Thursday night.
Soper, who’s brother Cormack lives on Main St, said they’d found water under the house which was coming up through the floorboards.
Everything inside the house was damp, she said. ‘‘The whole section was flooded.’’
Soper had read about the community centre on Facebook and she and her brother registered for
‘‘Everything was strewn everywhere. Everything that was on the floor is gone. There was absolutely nothing I could do.’’ Norm Corbett
assistance this morning.
But Soper remained positive. ‘‘There’s people out there worse off than us,’’ she said.
Tired eyes and an overwhelming sense of relief was present at the centre yesterday, which had become a base for clean up operations in the town.
A big white board greets visitors at the door with a list of important notices.
Environment Southland scientist Elaine Moriarty said about 50 people had come through the door by 11.30am yesterday.
Moriarty was one of several of Southland officials who had taken on new roles to help out where they were needed in the wake of severe flooding in the region.
The Gore District Council was in the process on setting up a desk in Mataura yesterday to help with welfare issues and provide information for residents.
Area controller Ian DavidsonWatts said he’d asked the council to send thinkers who could solve problems. ‘‘We need to make sure these people get dealt with quickly,’’ he told volunteers during a briefing.
Social Development and Winz would be at the centre by lunchtime, Moriaty said.
The sewage system was being reinstated, but Davidson-Watts said PowerNet would make the ultimate decision in terms of when things would be back up and running.
Building inspectors were still assessing homes to determine which areas of town were the hardest hit, but Main St seems to have borne the brunt of the damage at this point.