At the West Otago Community Board meeting on Wednesday, an email from Clutha District Council operations manager Paul Jamison was distributed to the board.
Several roads in West and South Otago were closed by high water levels and flash flooding after the heavy downpour last weekend.
In the email, Mr Jamison said council contractors discovered "someone had ploughed through the signs and cones" near Kelso into flooded areas.
After council staff replaced the signs and corrected the position of cones in Ardmore and Walker Rd, someone moved the signs so they could drive through.
The locals did not appear to adhere to the road closures despite detours put in place, the email said.
"The water levels are still high and the closures are in place for a reason."
Clutha Mayor Bryan Cadogan said the actions were "criminal".
"If there are people that think they can go taking signs out then that’s despicable."
West Otago ward councillor Michele Kennedy agreed, saying it was against the law to move barriers.
"These clowns expect us to rescue them."
Part of the problem was the barriers were like "a high jump" across the road and were not big enough.
Board member Linda Roulston wanted to know what could be done in situations where people clearly disregarded warnings.
"I don’t what we can do about idiots."
She also said those driving down the roads were putting at risk road contractors trying to repair the roads. Mrs Roulston suggested it might be better to put the road closure signs further south of Walker Rd.
"At the end of the day you can only try to protect these fellas, who think they are bigger."
