Southland's state of emergency will expire on Friday morning, more than two weeks after destructive winds swept through the region.

Emergency Management Southland said it would transition to recovery while making sure to support those who needed it.

Current Invercargill City Council group manager Rex Capil has been appointed as the Recovery Manager.

Alternate Controller Jonathan Shaw said the transition to recovery would not mean any reduction in support for impacted people as they know some people still don't have power.

"We know some are still without power. The focus will remain on providing essential supplies and services to communities and support to individuals," he said.

"The recovery process is about supporting people to rebuild their lives and restore their emotional, social, economic and physical wellbeing. It is more than simply building back infrastructure."

Storm damaged trees storm on East Road, Invercargill, are being felled and cut up. Photo: RNZ / Calvin Samuel

.

He thanked everyone involved in supporting the emergency response, saying it has been a challenging event that had caused major impacts.

Further north, the Clutha District Council hoped power outages might drop to single digits.

It reminded people that the district was on boil water notices apart from Balclutha, Kaitangata, Wangaloa, Milton and Waihola.

A mayoral relief fund was open to affected people, families, rural communities, community organisations and small businesses that had been hit hard financially due to last month's storm.

Published by Permission