Residents praise flood co-ordinators as waters recede
‘‘It was amazing, the people, the coordinators . . . I could not complain, especially the volunteers. There were women there cleaning and trying to find accommodation . . . I could not complain, especially the volthat’s Southland for you.’’
Wyndham resident Ngaire Weston said she could not fault the evacuation process after she was told to leave her home on Wednesday morning because of flooding.
Residents were told they had to evacuate because of the high rainfall and the rapidly rising Mataura River but were allowed to return to their homes on Thursday.
However, residents have to be careful driving as there is significant damage to roads and bridges surrounding the town.
She was evacuated to the Mokoreta Hall where she was then billeted out to a farming family who offered to let her stay for the night.
‘‘They told us to treat [their] house like our house. They were really lovely people,’’ she said.
Weston had family coming for Waitangi Day and had to change plans because of the flooding but she wasn’t worried about it.
It’s Mother Nature, people just have to chill, she said.
Glynis Herbert and Jim McAllister also found the evacuation process fairly straightforward.
‘‘There was no sense of trying to stay . . . I could not complain, especially the volWyndham has three rivers of course,’’ Herbert said.
People were well looked after. Those that had medical problems evacuated to Mimihau where there was phone coverage, while other residents went to Mokoreta, she said.
McAllister went to a friends in Tokanui but said most people were aware the evacuation was going to happen.
‘‘They had the Edendale road sandbagged on Tuesday night,’’ he said.
So many people were in Tokanui with the road being closed in Fortrose, McAllister said.
They even ran out of some products in some of the bars because some of the guys were there from Burt Munro and the Elton John concert, he said.
While the evacuation process had been great, Herbert said she was happy to be home.
Mokoreta was not a big place, she said.
‘‘They managed to get food there [but] some of us were sleeping in our car.’’