River levels in Gore remain high today as people get to work on cleaning up the damage from yesterday’s flooding.
Residents were told by Civil Defence Management Southland they were allowed to return to their homes at 6pm last night.
Gore resident Richard Taylor was heading back to his riverbank-side home from Invercargill on Monday when flooding began to escalate.
Rows of cars lined the Terrace Rd side of the river bank when he noticed how serious the situation had got, he said.
“It’s was about 11.30pm on Tuesday night when the Civil Defence message came through which told us to get a bag ready.”
About 6am on Wednesday, he received the text alert to evacuate.
“A couple of people from council went round knocking on doors to tell people to get out.”
Despite being right next to the river bank, he did not want to leave because of his dog.
“I was waiting for it [the water] to come over the bank before I was going to leave.
“I just packed dog food, fresh undies because you always need those, and my birth certificate and passport.”
A survivor of the Christchurch earthquakes, he was also afraid of people looting his property, he said.
“I just stayed and locked up, I got the generator out in case the power got shut off.”
Water levels continued to decrease yesterday afternoon before residents were eventually given the green light to return to their homes.
Many homeowners spent the day cleaning up damage from the flooding on their properties.
Several detours remained in place on the roads in Gore today as response teams got to work around the river and other affected areas.
