There was concern Saturday night for the Taruheru River with floodwaters rising to more than 4m before the rain eased off Saturday night. Photo / Murry Cave
There was concern Saturday night for the Taruheru River with floodwaters rising to more than 4m before the rain eased off Saturday night. Photo / Murry Cave
Dozens of people were evacuated in Tolaga Bay on Saturday as the big rainstorm swept across the region.
Residents in Cobden St woke Sunday morning to find the bottom of Cobden St into Thompson St cordoned off as a precaution against flooding overnight. Fortunately, that did not occur in that area. Photo / Murray Robertson
The council reported 179mm of rain fell in Waipaoa at Matawhero Bridge and 142mm at Waimata at Monowai Bridge.
State Highway 35 at Tolaga Bay was closed overnight Saturday due to flooding, but eventually reopened to one lane before fully reopening by mid-morning Sunday.
It was closed between Wharf Rd, just south of Tolaga Bay, and Okitū.
Several dozen people were evacuated in the Tolaga area and spent the night at Tolaga Bay Area School’s gymnasium.
The majority of them were tent campers from the town’s Top 10 camp, who moved from there early Saturday night.
Ūawa deputy civil defence officer Nori Parata told RNZ the rain had been torrential.
“We had to open up the base because there are a number of travellers that had got caught with the road closure, and also didn’t have appropriate vehicles for that kind of situation.
“But equally we also had the holiday camp [at Tolaga Bay] needed to evacuate people that were camping in tents down there. So I think we’ve got about 80 people in our gym between the travellers and the campers.”
NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA) crews have been monitoring a build-up of woody debris around the Gladstone Rd bridge on SH35 in Gisborne.
There was debris build-up under the William Petty railway bridge and Gladstone Rd bridge in Gisborne. The council said work will be done this week to clear it away. Photo / Murray Robertson
Tairāwhiti Civil Defence group controller Ben Green said the council had been in contact with contractors and NZTA about debris around the bridges.
“It’s not currently threatening the infrastructure, and removal will happen in line with our response plan this week.”
The debris build-up again on the city beaches has been assessed too.
The city beaches have a fresh coating of driftwood debris, not on the scale of previous storms, but still substantial and hazardous according to GDC. Photo / Murray Robertson
“Debris on the beach and in the water is a hazard, and we ask people use caution over the next few days.”
A clean-up operation got started around the Grey St area of the beach on Monday morning. Photo / Murray Robertson
The emergency sewage discharge valves were not opened overnight on Saturday.
“It was very close, but our teams worked around the clock using backup procedures and pumps to manage volumes – a huge effort,” the council said in a statement.
Following Saturday’s thunderstorms, three power transformers feeding power to Muriwai were damaged.
Firstlight Network got the repairs done on Sunday.
The Tairāwhiti Civil Defence team summed the night up in a Facebook post on Sunday.
