Heavy rain overnight has left already saturated land on the Poverty Bay Flats under more floodwater than it has carried in years. Rivers and streams have become torrents while many drains are blocked, paddocks have turned to lakes and roads are under water at low points all around the Flats.
Mercifully Tolaga Bay was spared the more intense rain in a weather system that has delivered widely varying rainfall figures across the district, although the Hikuwai River reached alert levels overnight as did the Waipaoa River. Te Karaka is cut off today, with flooding there also closing State Highway 2.
Many families around the district are blocked in by closed roads — hunkering down and waiting for the light rain of this morning to pass.
Ravaged by flash flooding last weekend, the road network and riverside properties inland from Tolaga Bay remain in a precarious situation, with vast quantities of forestry slash still littering many locations. A request by The Gisborne Herald this morning to access the worst-hit areas for news coverage today was declined, with Tairawhiti Roads staff instead saying they will send in images.
The Poverty Bay Flats have escaped the worst of recent heavy-rain events in the district, so many residents were impressed by the scenes that met them this morning after a wild, wet and windy night. Most just went about their usual business, though, with few out on the roads rubber-necking.
Flooding in September 2015 came to town in a big way down the Waimata River, inundating low-lying riverside homes and causing a large wood debris dam (from a mix of sources) on both sides of the Gladstone Road Bridge — the likes of which long-time road workers had not seen before, and could have had more serious consequences.
The last time the Poverty Bay Flats saw flooding like overnight and today was on April 4, 2012 after a heavy rain event hit Hawke’s Bay and Gisborne, which were still soggy following a significant storm two weeks earlier that caused the blowouts which closed the rail line.
With a few days of sunshine forecast now, the district will get a chance to start drying out. Hopefully there won’t be any further heavy rain in the near future.
