Bad Storm in Fiordland Leaves Us Stranded in Milford

Early on Monday morning, Fiordland was hit by a very strong storm. The cold, southerly winds gusted up to 140km/h bringing down trees, and 200mm of torrential rain caused two significant landslides, all of which blocked Milford Road– the only road to and from Milford Sound– for several days.

I remember waking up at around 1:30am to the horrid tempest outside my weak, aluminum, ready-made room. The wind was so loud that I couldn't hear the raindrops pounding my flat roof. It was at a constant gale, but was gusting to unbelievable velocities creating a horrible freight train-like roar and causing the walls and roof of my room to creek. Nicolas, whose room is next to mine and at the end of our row of four rooms, was kept awake by branches swinging and drumming into his wall. At one point, a strong gust blew down a branch onto our roofs creating a loud thud.

I was lucky enough to be working the morning shift the morning after the storm and I reported to work to find 2x4s scattered on the walkway, chairs blown into the parking lot, damage to the siding of the lodge, and a crowd of people sleeping in the guest lounge. I still have no idea how they got in there considering no one called the emergency phone. They must have climbed over the wall and opened the door from the inside. The windows of three camper vans were blown in, filling the vehicles with leaves, water, and shattered glass. Luckily no one was hurt. I gave them supplies with which to fix their windows while my head was turning trying to figure out the status of the road and what to tell all the uneasy guests. Initially, we got a fax saying the road was blocked by fallen trees, but not closed. Once they discovered the landslides, they closed the road.

When all the guests realized they were stranded, and it was still rainy and windy that morning, they just sat inside the lodge ordering coffee and breakfast all morning. I think I made twice as many breakfasts than ever before. Later on, we got another fax saying the road would be closed for "several days" which brought down the moral of the guests and staff. Later that evening, after I was off work, the authorities opened the road for 40 minutes just to let the tourists out. Rowan was working and had to hand out dozens of refunds as people scrambled for their vehicles and left in a mass exodus. But not everyone left that night. There was still about 15 to 20 guests that stayed either because they didn't realize that it was their only chance to escape for the next couple days, or they were just out on a walk or in their rooms when the announcement was made. They stayed the night and were even more annoying the following morning as they made me feel like it was my fault that they didn't leave the night before. Luckily that night, the authorities opened the road one last time so that the remainder of the guests could leave.

The following morning, I started work at 10:00am instead of 6:30am since we were completely vacant and their were only 6 rooms to turn over– existing from the last few people who left the night before. I cleaned out the guest kitchen food storage shelves and refrigerators since I knew that none of the food there was owned by anyone. I also knew that it could be several days before our food shipment arrived so any unspoiled food left by guests could come in handy.

Today is Thursday, the road is still closed, Milford is still free of tourists (except for some who are flying in by plane and helicopter for some reason). There was also a camper van that came in via convoy, but we won't open up the lodge for only one person. I think he was hoping to get helicoptered somewhere so he could hike. 'Good luck, buddy.'

My coworkers, Jamie, Barbara, Elodie, and Sarah (who lives at the lodge, but works for Red Boats) were on the Routeburn track the night of the storm and were stranded on the track. They were nearly forced to walk all the way back to the beginning of the track, but were allowed to walk to Gun's Camp on Hollyford Valley Road from the Howden hut. They had to stay at Gun's Camp for three nights while they waited for the road to re-open, and arrived here around 11:30am today. A nice man driving a Works and Infrastructure truck made the trip into Milford just for them. It sounds like the road is going to re-open tomorrow morning around 9:00am, which means we will start seeing tourists between 10:30am and 11:00am. I am off of work for four days starting today. With all that's going on here and, additionally, I have a bad cold (which I got the morning of the storm), I can undoubtedly say I need some time off.

Just like Noah and the Ark, God gave us a beautiful rainbow the day after the storm to remind as that everything was going to be alright.