While New Zealand enters its third day of lockdown some residents at the top of the South Island are more isolated than most.
More than a month on from last month’s rainfall and hundreds of households in the Marlborough Sounds remain cut off.
The Keneperu Road, and some side roads, which connects residents to the outside world remain closed. The damage on the road so bad that it’s unclear when it will re-open again.
Marlborough District Council’s Dean Heiford says it’s likely to be months, but hopes to give locals more details soon.
Part of the issue is the instability and safety of the roads with many of the slips still moving.
“We've had a couple of slips come down that we didn't even know were there.
"We've had drop outs from roads so that's why we're really careful about the safety message we're giving people because even our engineers don't know what's happening in places without eyeballing it.
"And some places they can't get to because it's still too wet.”
1NEWS’ Nelson-based reporter Jessica Roden visited residents last week before lockdown began.
Adrian Harvey and Adi Watson told her the uncertainty was incredibly frustrating.
“[There’s been a] lack of information from the Marlborough District Council and Marlborough Roads. There's just been deafening silence,” Harvey said.
The scars from last month’s rainfall very clear with the landscape littered with slips throughout the Sounds. More than 100 slips came down during the flooding.
Johnson’s Barge Service and local water taxis are the only way in or out at the moment. They’re bringing in everything from 4wheel motor bikes to skips, and transporting livestock back to the mainland.
The barge also helping Nelson woman Heather Stanton with a rescue mission. Her family were forced to abandon their car during the storm and sought refuge with locals.
The locals fed the family and helped them find somewhere to stay for two nights until they could catch a water taxi out.
“If it hadn't been for them we would have literally been sitting in a car freezing with no food in the rain,” Stanton said.
Her story has a happy ending. She found her car, it started first time around and after four weeks she was able to get it back to mainland on the barge.
Marlborough District Council has spent $30,000 from the Mayoral Relief Fund to subsidise the barge to ensure it will keep coming every Wednesday and Thursday. However, at a cost of $185 plus GST per car it’s still costly to locals.
Kim Weatherhead from Johnsons Barge Service said she understand where they’re coming from.
“I think a lot of people do think it's expensive, and it is expensive but generally it's a bit of a luxury… When the road is suddenly taken away that road becomes a necessity and that's something that they're not necessarily ready for,” she said.
Waitaria Bay School principal Laura Thompson said some students at the school are unable to make it to class.
“The students would like a date they can come back to school really. When the road can be open, when our school bus can start and for them I suppose normality can resume,” Thompson said.
But normality is still a while off for this community. Much of the Keneperu Road remains closed, except for essential travel while cars aren’t allowed on the most damaged parts at all.
The council urging caution, warning that another rain event could result in further road issues, which could also be triggered by a vehicle attempting to cross a vulnerable section of the road.
Johnson’s Barge Service is an essential service so will continue to operate during Alert Level 4.
Currently the teams assessing the roads aren’t working at Alert Level 4, though the Council will continue to assess the situation.
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