Big bill for island damage

BARRY HARCOURT/Southland Times/Image ID 108887

DOWN SHE GOES: The sad sight of a yacht that succumbed to the storm at Thule Bay during high winds at Stewart Island.

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The bill from slips and other damage on Stewart Island after this week's rain deluge was likely to reach hundreds of thousands of dollars, the Southland District Council said yesterday.

District council engineers will today assess the widespread slips, which have left some residents with no vehicle access to their homes after a month's worth of rain fell in the past few days.

MetService readings show 174mm fell at the South West Cape of the island in four days.

MetService forecaster Oliver Druce said the good news was the worst of it was over. However, that had come too late for some.

Ackers Point residents Philippa Fraser-Wilson and Ian Wilson now have to walk 500m to their vehicles because the road to their house had been closed since Saturday because of slips. Mrs Fraser-Wilson said the road had been unstable for some time and increased traffic in recent years, such as tourist buses, had sped up the problem.

She did not know what could be done as "it's not going to be an easy job" to fix the road.

She was concerned about what effect it would have on her accommodation business. Guests would not want to walk the distance to their accommodation, especially in poor weather. But her main worry was there was no access for emergency service vehicles.

Meanwhile, a 15m by 30m slip on the recently redeveloped Horseshoe Track, owned by the district council, is unlikely to be repaired soon.

Stewart Island Community Board chairman Barry Rhodes said the damage was disappointing. The community had gone to a lot of effort to upgrade the track, including securing government funding.

"I'm pissed off about the track actually, because it's been a big effort (upgrading it) and it was very popular, always had been, but it was even more popular now that it was in such good nick," Mr Rhodes said.

District council roading assets manager Russell Hawkes said the council would not have a plan until after it completed an assessment.

However, from what he had seen in photographs, repairs to just one slip could cost at least $150,000.

- © Fairfax NZ News