Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has inspected the damage in Canterbury after flooding across the region caused by days of heavy rain.
Ardern arrived in Mid Canterbury this morning and spoke to media early this afternoon.
A key topic was the State Highway 1 Ashburton River bridge, which was closed this morning because of slumping.
The closure of the bridge has caused travel chaos and engineers have confirmed significant damage to the structure. An alternative route across the river is being worked on.
The bridge is the main link between Ashburton and Tinwald, and all other routes south were closed today.
Ardern said advice to her at this stage was that alternative routes were expected to be open by the end of today but it would mean a significant diversion for travellers.
Connecting those who were disconnected was of the utmost importance, Ardern said.
"A big clean-up job lies ahead of us."
The link would also allow supplies to get through to supermarkets.
Ardern is being accompanied by Agriculture Minister Damien O'Connor, Ashburton Mayor Neil Brown and acting Emergency Management Minister Kris Faafoi.
They reviewed the damage from the air in a helicopter before speaking to media, and Ardern said they could see a lot of trees uprooted, damaged fences on farms, damaged roads and flooded land.
Some farmers would have difficulty accessing winter feed for their stock.
Ardern said Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency had access to funding for emergency repairs, and repair work was already under way at one place they visited.
O'Connor asked the farming sector to show some understanding that farmers may not be able to meet their contractual obligations regarding the delivery of cattle. Today is moving day.
O'Connor appealed to the sector throughout the country to show their cooperation.
Ardern posted a live video during her flight this morning, showing flooding stretching across the flooded Canterbury Plains.
"Devastating to see what communities will be dealing with for some time to come," she said on social media.
"We'll have a chance to meet with some of the local leaders shortly to see how we can help support them."
She then touched down in hard-hit Ashburton just before 11am for a behind-closed-doors briefing with Mayor Neil Brown and Civil Defence.
Yesterday, the Government contributed $100,000 towards a Mayoral Relief Fund to support Canterbury communities impacted by the flooding.
Acting Minister for Emergency Management Kris Faafoi acknowledged how "disruptive and distressing this flooding has been for many people".
"While it is still very early to know the full cost of the damage, we expect it to be significant and this initial contribution will help those communities to start to get back on their feet," he said yesterday.
"We will stay in contact with local councils to see what further assistance may be needed as site assessments are completed in the coming days."
Mayoral Relief Funds provide an additional way to help communities bounce back after an emergency.
The funds will be provided to the Christchurch City Council Mayoral Relief Fund to be disbursed across the Canterbury region.
- additional reporting NZ Herald
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Comments
The governments and it's key agencies, need to recognise these type of disasters impact on the Southern South Island food and other distribution. They need to see infrastructure providing alternative routes and not be reliant on one bridge because the traffic will not build sufficiently to be a localised issue until 2025, isolated organisational and regional modelling and start to see the infrastructure required as that for disaster recoverability much like the internet was built, to scope the much wider regions and distribution chains. As to, the main food distributions need to think about upsizing more regional depots.