1,000 tourists stranded in New Zealand town after floods and mudslides

About 1,000 tourists were stranded in a resort in Franz Josef, a small town in New Zealand after intense flooding and mudslides hit the region.

Franz Josef is a beautiful, small town located on the West Coast of New Zealand's South Island.

The town which is established in the Franz Josef glacier, has a few hundred local residents but receives about half a million tourists annually. The region is prone to floods and earthquakes and is sealed off once every two years on average.

High precipitation that struck the region on 7-8 December 2019, caused flooding and triggered mudslides in the area causing severe damage to Franz Josef's major road (click the video below to watch footage from the affected roadway). As a result, people that were visiting the town could not abandon the resort. 

Most of the people trapped had to remain in the hotel until the road reopens. However, about 40 of them chose to reach the airport by private helicopters. Not everyone could afford the helicopter tickets that were relatively expensive (about $600) while some people could not abandon their vehicles.

Moreover, there was confusion about whether the insurance companies would pay for the trip. "They all have the option of taking fixed wing planes or helicopters. It's just a question of who writes the cheque. I understand that," Bruce Smith, New Zealand's Westland district Mayor, stated.

According to the Mayor, if the incident had occurred during February, when the tourist period peaks, more than 6,000 people could have been trapped.

Local infrastructure was highly damaged by the incident and the tourist season is going to be affected.  Adam Joyce, the chief executive of Inflite, the firm that owns the local airplanes, stated that funds need to be provided in order to improve the town's infrastructure. He also added that the firm would prefer conducting its usual trips rather than evacuation flights. “The infrastructure is poor to say the least, money needs to be spent or this is going to happen again,” Mr. Joyce, stated.