Torrential rain and strong winds closed major tourist route the Haast Pass for much of yesterday.
The Milford road, further south, was also closed as a precaution on Thursday night, reopening yesterday morning.
New Zealand Transport Agency acting performance manager Barry Stratton said SH6, between Haast township and Makarora, was closed until 2.30pm yesterday after heavy rain on Thursday night brought down gravel and other debris on to the road at the Diana Falls slip site and two other places in the Haast Pass area. More than 130mm of rain was recorded in the area on Thursday night, he said.
The heavy rain eased late yesterday morning and the road was then cleared and the Diana Falls slip site checked for any further movement before the highway was reopened.
Haast River Top 10 Holiday Park manager Tania Frisby said the road closure was ''very frustrating'' for holidaymakers.
A 3km line of traffic was waiting for the road to reopen yesterday, she said.
The park was fully booked, with tourists seeking accommodation in Haast rather than waiting in the traffic bottleneck. She turned away about 80 people wanting accommodation yesterday, Mrs Frisby said.
However, tourists who had secured accommodation in Haast but wanted to leave once the road reopened had to forfeit the money they had paid for accommodation.
She understood why the NZTA had closed the pass.
''It's all about safety. We can't have people up in that pass in a storm like we got ... I haven't seen winds like it. I thought the windows were going to pop. We had campers crying, thinking their camper vans were going to tip.''
Although the camper vans were ''rocking'' in the wind, no vehicles at the park had been damaged.
All the crying campers were international tourists, she said.
Some Australian tourists were too scared to leave the park yesterday and some German tourists were ''panicking'' about the prospect of driving on the pass.
Some people finished their holidays early and travelled north rather than navigate the pass. Gordon Hunt, of Fairfield, said he and wife Robyn had been at a funeral in Whataroa on Thursday and were returning to Dunedin via Haast when the storm hit.
''It was real nasty,'' Mr Hunt said.
They couple spent Thursday night in Haast and waited in the banked traffic yesterday morning.
At 10am yesterday, they were told the pass would remain closed until at least 2pm and with no accommodation in Haast they turned back and detoured through Arthurs Pass to get back to Mosgiel in time for work today.
The detour added eight hours' driving to the trip home, he said.
Senior Constable Robin Manera, of Haast, said Thursday night's rain was ''really bloody hard''.
''But that's what happens in a rainforest. I don't know how many mils [millilitres of rain] we had but it was torrential.''
There was some surface flooding but no reported damage, he said.
NZTA Southland area manager Peter Robinson said the Milford road was closed at 5pm on Thursday as a precautionary measure as stormy conditions and strong winds were forecast for the area.
The road was reopened at 9.30am yesterday after the road was checked and some tree debris and small rocks were cleared away.
