Bus convoys will deliver tourists to Milford soon

Visitors will be able to return to tourist-dependent Milford Sound in just over a week as authorities work to create a route along the wrecked Milford Rd.

The New Zealand Transport Agency is aiming to have convoys of tourist buses back on State Highway 94 from February 21.

Vehicles with at least 10 seats will be able to join the convoys, which leave for Milford Sound at 10am, 12.30pm and 2.30pm and head back out at 11.30am, 1.20pm and 4pm. It will bring some relief to businesses cut off since massive rainfall on February 3 caused extensive damage to the only road into the Fiordland village.

However, it will be more than a year before the road is back to its pre-storm condition. Convoys for essential supplies and services will start from Sunday and continue through to February 20.

Transport agency system manager Graeme Hall said the convoys would be suspended if further rainfall created fresh risks. A small storm is forecast in about a week. The storm damage would ‘‘require a significant rebuilding over more than a 12-month period’’.

‘‘It has been a huge effort to establish a construction track and to be able to forecast we can accommodate some traffic use in the coming weeks while rebuilding continues,’’ Hall said. The most serious damage is on a section between East Gate (near the Hollyford turnoff) and the Chasm.

The Fiordland region is reeling from the double whammy of the flood damage and coronavirus travel restrictions. A state of emergency will remain in place for Southland, including Fiordland, until Tuesday.