Govt commits $200,000 to flood-stricken South Island

This is in addition to the $200,000 funding announced by McAnulty on 18 August and on top of $120,000 funding recently announced by Minister for Rural Communities Damien O’Connor.

Marlborough will receive $100,000 and an additional $100,000 will be contributed to Nelson/Tasman.

“This past week has been really tough on the top of the South Island, with a long and challenging recovery ahead,” McAnulty said.

He said the additional contribution would support the communities in the two regions as they assess the full extent of the damage and begin clean-up.

“Given the size of the job, there is likely to be more support needed from the Government – but this contribution will help these regions tackle the most urgent areas of need while the scope of damage is still being assessed.

“Local communities and councils understand where the immediate needs are and how to help,” McAnulty said. “Mayoral Relief Funds help local communities to support whanau, community organisations and marae after an emergency.”

“The impacts of this event are spread across a wide geographical area which makes the recovery difficult. I’ll be checking in with the Council on Thursday to see what additional support from Government may be needed.”

Marlborough Mayor John Leggett said he was thankful for the contribution.

He said the event was significant and the recovery ahead would be another long journey.

“It is a bitter pill to swallow but we must accept it and get on with the job at hand, and we are. Many of our local roads, in particular the Marlborough Sounds, will likely be inaccessible or affected for some time to come. Rest assured we will be doing all we can to get our communities connected again as quickly as possible, but it is going to take time,” Leggett said.

“We will continue our work with the emergency team and the many Marlborough-based agencies, organisations and iwi over the coming days, weeks and months ahead, to get our region back up and running.”