Southland escapes widespread damage in weather bomb
A washed-out bridge in Fiordland appears to be the worst of the damage after the south spent much of Thursday under a heavy rain warning.
Emergency Management Southland activated its Emergency Co-ordination Centre to monitor and prepare for any impacts of the heavy rain on Thursday morning, but later in the day said it was not expecting river levels to cause major issues.
The Southland District Council said the Lower Hollyford bridge, just before Gunns Camp, was closed from the Lake Marian car park as it had been damaged due to flooding.
A council spokesperson said contractors’ initial advice was that the bridge was to be reopened by the end of yesterday, and there had been no reports from the roading team about any surface flooding.
MetService data shows Milford Sound Airport recorded 184.3mm of rain on Thursday, making it the wettest place in the country. Te Anau, Lumsden, Nugget Point and Gore were the top four coldest places in the country for the day, all recording average temperatures just over seven degrees.
Fire and Emergency NZ said it attended some flooding in Invercargill on Thursday morning.
In Gore, the council was monitoring the weather closely after a State of Emergency was declared in the town in September 2023 when storm water drains were unable to cope with a deluge of rain.
Yesterday, mayor Ben Bell said the worst of the weather ‘’went around us,’’ but there was some surface flooding in the town. “We were prepared for it, but it seems to be that when you over-prepare for these things they don’t happen,’’ he said.
The Southland regional forecast for today is for partly cloudy, conditions, with scattered rain developing in the morning.