Mataura River during Southland flooding on 21-22 September 2023. Photo: Guy Dowding/High Country Helicopters
Farmers and growers across parts of the lower South Island hit by last month's storm are being urged to reach out for help if they need it.
Two weeks ago, strong gusts followed by heavy rain caused slips, widespread flooding, river rises and issues with debris across Southland and Otago.
The Ministry for Primary Industries has now allocated $20,000 for the Southland Rural Support Trust to distribute towards the recovery of local primary industry producers.
Trust chairperson Cathie Cotter said most farmers had been too busy dealing with lambing and calving to deal with damage from the storm.
"We've put calls out for help and we've talked to our Rural Professionals, because they're the ones that drive down driveways to get reports on who they think need some help - and what that might look like," she said.
"At the moment we're just struggling to get the information from farmers on what help they need and what damage there is, just because they are focussed on getting through lambing and calving."
But Cotter said there was lots of debris and fences down regionwide, especially near the region's river, like the Aparima River where 40 cows were swept downstream - and 15 have been recovered.
"The problem was a bit two-fold because we got high winds for two days before we got the floods, so there was a lot of damage like roofs were removed from sheds and calf sheds were turned over. Then they got a deluge.
"There were a lot of trees and branches down on paddocks and the debris just got picked up and carried through people never got a change to tidy up between," Cotter said.
She said the scale of lamb losses in the event would not be known until it was time for tailing.
The heavy rainfall saw Queenstown record its wettest day in 24 years.
