Southland's state of emergency will be lifted this afternoon

It's two weeks since widespread flooding caused major damage to homes, farms and infrastructure.

Gore District mayor, Tracy Hicks, says they're now moving into transition phase - and there's a lot of recovery yet to happen.

He says the main focus is restoring water and roading infrastructure and fixing exposed landfills.

The road to Milford Sound is still closed, but convoys with essential services will run through today and tomorrow.