40th Anniversary – 1984 Southland Floods Video

It was 40 years ago on Friday 27th January 1984 Southland suffered from a major flood. Here’s a video that covers the events before, during and after what was a black Friday for our city and region.

But being Southlanders we bounced back stronger than ever as a community and region.

The worst floods in memory struck Invercargill and parts of rural Southland on Friday 27th January 1984.

The disaster was foreshadowed by a national weather office report two days earlier, heavy rain was likely for 24-48 hours possibly over the whole South Island.

The weather map the next day Thursday 26th January showed a cold front was stationary over Southland and not expected to move for 18 hours.

Torrential rain fell during that Thursday and by nightfall, all Southland rivers were in high flood.

In the following days, an estimated 5,000 people were forced to leave their homes.

Flooding caused evacuations at Tuatapere, Otautau, Thornbury, and Riverton as well as Invercargill.

Flooding was extensive In Invercargill especially in the northern suburbs of Grasmere and Waikiwi.

A state of local Civil Defence Emergency was declared at 4am on Friday 27th January and extended to cover the Southland region at 10am the same day.

The scenes that feature were compiled from Television news coverage of the emergency.

They raise a number of points for later discussion. Especially the question of replacing Civil Defence people in critical positions before they become too tired or over stressed.

1984 Southland Floods Numbers

• Some people had to wait for more than a week while the floodwaters receded before going back to their homes.
• 1,200 homes were unliveable.
• More than 5,000 tonnes of personal belongings, which were damaged beyond any form of repair, were dumped.
• More than 12,000 sheep, 100 cattle, 334 pigs and 75 deer were lost, as well as 170 kilometres of fences and 52 farm bridges.
• About $55 million was paid out in insurance claims.
• The state of emergency was finally lifted on 27 February.
• About 4000 people were evacuated from 1000 homes across Invercargill, Otautau and Tuatapere.
• Invercargill was isolated, and only accessible by air.