Some Mataura residents have returned home only to discover they face a massive clean-up job.
The town had been a no-go zone for two days amid fears of flooding and the potential release of toxic ammonia gas from a mothballed paper mill.
The cordon was finally lifted yesterday evening, but some locals were shocked to discover their houses surrounded by floodwater.
RNZ reporter Katie Todd was in Mataura not long after the cordon was lifted.
