Thousands of litres of milk have poured into a Southland river from a tanker that crashed off the highway at Mataura.
The tanker smashed into a concrete power pole on State Highway 93 around 3am this morning, taking down power lines, a police southern communications spokesman said. The driver was not hurt.
Environment Southland said between 12,000 and 15,000 litres of milk poured from the tanker onto the road and straight into a drain that went directly into the Mataura River, which fortuitously was in flood.
"The river has been on flood warning for about 20 hours now so the milk will have been significantly diluted, dramatically reducing any environmental impact," an Environment Southland spokeswoman said.
Otherwise it would have been a serious incident.
Another Fonterra tanker had been called in to pick up the remaining milk and the road was closed for around six hours.
PowerNet said it was hoped to have the power back on for all customers by this afternoon. Around 150 are affected.
NZN