Road 'badly damaged' from last week's rain

Scouring over 1m deep from heavy rain last week has forced the closure of a rural road for at least a week.

Pongakawa Bush Rd has been closed to traffic since heavy rainfall fell last week and is expected to be closed for a few more days yet, Western Bay District Council group manager infrastructire Gary Allis said.

Mr Allis said the road was badly damaged with scouring over 1m deep. Scouring is essentially when rain water washes out the road surface.

"Council's roading contractor WestLink has been working on repairing Pongakawa Bush Rd every day since the storm, including Saturday and Sunday. They estimate another two or three more days' work is required before the road will be open to traffic. All residents on the road have access to their homes, although some may be using alternative routes."

Mr Allis said all other roads in the district were open, although minor tidy work was still needed in some areas and would be done within the next month.

WestLink engineers were checking watercourse scour on Roydon Downs and Mystery Valley Rd bridges.

At this stage, the council was looking at an estimated $600,000 to repair the damage.

Mr Allis said the council's contract with WestLink included provision for $750,000 for emergency work repairs and storm damage in each year of the contract. As this event was the first claim against the allowance for the current financial year, there would be no additional cost to council.