Waihopai and Wairau rivers. Photo: Webcam/Marlborough District Council
A Civil Defence controller for Nelson Tasman, has urged residents to be cautious and vigilant of their surroundings after this weekend's flood.
Waters are receding, but the region remains under a state of emergency.
Controller Rob Smith advised people to be careful as they continued clearing up.
On Saturday, police said a person cleaning up died after being hit by a falling tree. A Civil Defence information hub was open in Motueka to provide any assistance, he added.
Civil Defence Minister Mark Mitchell will be surveying the flood-affected areas on Sunday.
Meanwhile, Marlborough Emergency Management said on Saturday night it was transitioning to a recovery phase, now the worst of the wet weather had passed.
Emergency Management handed over to individual agencies such as the council, Marlborough Roads and the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) on Saturday night after the worst of the weather had ended.
But the District Council said Marlborough could remain under a local state of emergency for another five days.
Spring Creek and Renwick residents were evacuated from their homes as a precaution on Friday night, while around 20 people became stranded after the Waiau river flooded.
A severe weather event including heavy rain has caused the Motueka River to burst its banks and flood. Photo: RNZ / Samantha Gee
The council said the recovery phase would officially begin on Monday.
Mayor Nadine Taylor said while there was ongoing roading damage and surface flooding, those would be addressed by individual agencies.
She said the spring creek stop banks mostly held up.
The council's flood protection team would immediately begin fixing the compromised stop bank at the Waihopai/Wairau rivers, she added.
The weather warnings for Otago, Clutha and Southland were lifted shortly after 8pm.
MetService had no weather warning or watches in place across the country on Sunday morning.
'There is no denying that the damage in the Tasman area is substantial'
Nelson Tasman group controller Alec Louverdis said the damage to property and infrastructure in Tasman was "substantial" and recovery would take time.
Rapid assessment teams in the Nelson Tasman district headed out at 8am on Sunday to assess properties and infrastructure in Motueka, Riwaka, and Taparewa.
Louverdis said they would then try to get out to the more isolated communities in the valleys, who he said have not yet been heard from.
He said it was still "very wet, but thank goodness, the rain seems to have eased and forecast looks very promising for the recovery".
"There is no denying that the damage in the Tasman area is substantial and it will take a while to work through recovery. But we are still in response mode at the moment and we are busy making sure gathering information and date to assist the group recovery manager that they have a good plan and know exactly where the problems are."
"As the sun comes up we now have the opportunity to visually inspect and reach out to our isolated communities and take it from there one step at a time.
"Our focus right now is on supplying support to communities and understanding the exact damage to infrastructure as well as to property."
Work to repair local roads and state highways underway
NZTA said a lot of work was underway to repair both local roads and state highways, with road crews working hard to give cut-off Marlborough residents access.
Wash outs and slips closed two sections of State Highway 6, between Kawatiri to Kohatu, and at Rocks Road, as well as SH 63 from Renwick to Saint Arnaud, leaving households without road access. They include around 200 people in Wairau.
NZTA regional manager for maintainance and operations Mark Owen said crews were working on a temporary access to get the route open as quickly as possibly on Sunday. He said a lot of debris and surface water remained on the roads and only essential travel was advised.
"There's been significant rain over past 48 hours and we've seen evidence of what that's meant. The good news is a lot of our highways have bounced back, they're very resilient. We do have three areas where we have a road closure... across the rest of the region the highways are open but we would advise only essential travel, if you need to.
"A lot of the local council roads have taken quite an impact from this weather, and we'll have crews out in the next few days assessing the damage and determining what the permanent solutions are."
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