Between July 30 and August 31 Oamaru experienced 153mm of rain, and its fifth wettest August on record. This intensive heavy rainfall led to a series of floods across the Waitaki district as both the Kakanui and Shag Rivers breached flood-alert levels.
A total of 40 rural roads had to be repaired at the height of the floods, and Waitaki District Council roading manager Michael Voss said estimates for emergency work carried out to date had come out at $705,000.
"We haven't got a final costing because of the complexity of some of the works, but our response in repairs to the roads, which are basically almost completed, are round about $600,000.
"And we have got another $105,000 [in] repairs to the bridges. That may move up and down a wee bit yet, as we get more details."
Mr Voss said all roads were now open and roading work should be finished in the next three weeks.
Any changes to the estimates for road repair would be "minimal", as the council's contractor had costed the work, but work on two bridges still needed to be carried out, and the costs to repair those could still change, he said.
Two bridges, on the Kakanui and Kauru Rivers, were still under repair.
The Kakanui Valley Rd bridge required repairs to an abutment, after the Kauru river, which is a tributary of the Kakanui, eroded the northwest abutment, removing the rock armour and exposing the pier cap.
Mr Voss said the Kakanui River would need to be re-directed into its main channel.
The steel guardrails and abutments on the Fuchsia Creek bridge had been undermined by the river, which meant that repairs were needed to the guardrails. The abutments would also need to be re-armoured and underpinned.
He noted, too, that the river's course would have to be redirected.
At the concrete ford on Uxbridge Rd, the approaches and part of the slab had been undermined and that damage had already been repaired, he said.
