TOP STORY: Residents evacuated as streets turn into rivers

Staff Reporters
Up to 40 people were evacuated from their Napier homes after a ferocious thunderstorm parked over the city and caused floods overnight.
Although official MetService figures recorded 50.8mm of rain from their Napier Airport site Tamatea resident Terry Pellett recorded a staggering 143mm at Lanark Crescent while horticulturist Peter Merson gauged 123mm at his Elbourne Street in Taradale.
The deluge was heaviest between 1am and 4am, with residents staying up to keep an eye on rising water levels - sometimes waist deep - across the city.
The worst affected areas included Greenmeadows, Onekawa, Pirimai, Tamatea and Taradale. Flooding seriously affected, or closed, the roads leading off Meannee Road as well as the main arterial Kennedy Road.
Virtually every shop in the Onekawa shopping centre was flooded.
Anthony Champion, of Onekawa New World, had about 75mm of flood water through his shop and was not expecting to re-open until late this morning. The floodwaters caused cardboard display bins to collapse. He blamed a blocked stormwater intake in front of his store for the flooding.
Haynes Onekawa was also affected. Barry Thrupp said the water affected the shop's electrics. Only two or three shops in the centre were not flooded.
Entering the Onekawa Industrial area was nigh-on impossible without being engulfed by the floodwaters.
Robert Simpson of Trade and Commerce had to wade through knee-high water to get to his Niven Street workplace. The water was so deep that even four-wheel-drive vehicles were turning back.
Mr Simpson said there were people in canoes outside Rembrandt Fine Arts and Wakefield Street was also flooded. Taradale BNZ was closed this morning and at least half a dozen businesses flooded.
McDonald's Supermarket owner Ian Beaton, says he was out of bed at 3am trying to fight off rising water levels that had reached the checkout counters of his shop.
Other businesses affected by the storm include Debbies, Caroline Eve, Prebbles and the Craftsman.
Most businesses were able to open their doors this morning without too much water damage.
Telephone and power services were also out in a third of the city, and Napier City Council engineers were working to contain swollen sewerage and storm water systems, the city's chief fire officer Paul Baxter said.
"Shortly after midnight the rain started to come down and that was followed by a pretty big electrical storm with thunder and lightning," he said.
"Our guys were busy from about 1am."
The MetService warned of continuing rain in Napier until mid-morning but the storm had moved out to sea.
"In some areas, it's hard to tell the difference between the creeks and the roads," Mr Baxter said.
The Fire Service had been rescuing motorists who had tried to drive through flooded areas and become stranded this morning.
Mr Baxter said between 30 and 40 people had been evacuated to a Salvation Army hall, but there were more who had wanted to stay in their flooded homes.
"Some have up to one metre of water in their homes, others have it lapping around their legs," he said.
The Fire Service appealed to Napier residents to stay put until the flood waters receded, as roads were treacherous. Inspector Tom Ireland, of the police central communications centre, said some Napier motorists were causing waves by driving through the flooded streets.
"Motorists were causing water to surge on to properties," he said.
The worst-affected areas for power outages were Pirimai, Onekawa, Tamatea and Greenmeadows.
A spokesman for the electricity lines company, Unison, Bill Hewitt said three or four transformers had exploded and smoke was reported coming from others because of the flooding.
Mr Hewitt said the company had plenty of replacement transformers available but in many areas linesmen cannot begin repairs until the floodwaters subsided.
Among the schools closed following the deluge was Tamatea High School, Tamatea Intermediate School, Henry Hill School in Pirimai and Bledisloe School while nobody was answering the phone this morning at Porritt School in Tamatea.
Avondale Road resident, Rachel Skinner was one of many who had difficulties getting to work in the city, finding roads to her Gloucester Street bus stop knee-deep in water.
After missing the bus, she was given a lift by police who were called out by city council workers to patrol the streets and ensure traffic moved slowly through the water-logged streets.
Overnight and this morning, city council workers were out in force, trying to clear drains. Their job was made more difficult when power was lost at the Country Drain which pumps water through Pirimai, and also for the Waverley Road drain in Onekawa.
One council worker told Hawke's Bay Today that the flash flood had come close to creating a civil emergency.
Works asset manager Bill McWatt said there had been a lot of problems city-wide. Residential streets in Taradale, Greenmeadows, Greenmeadows East, Tamatea and Pirimai were the worst affected, as well as industrial streets in Onekawa and Pandora.
Mr McWatt said most people accepted their usual routes might be inaccessible. Others drove on ignoring directions from council staff.
There were reports of a frustrated Guppy Road resident attacking fast-moving cars with a broomstick in an attempt to slow traffic down.
Among the impassable roads, Churchill Drive was blocked when debris from the hillside above scoured out the road.
There were ongoing problems this morning trying to clear Guppy Road and Elbourne Street, among the worst affected by the flooding.
Mr McWatt said water was subsiding throughout Napier, and some additional drainage work done after the 2003 rainbomb had handled the deluge well.
Waipukurau was hit by a similar storm just before 6pm yesterday, when heavy rain and hail fell leaving white slush at the roadsides.
Dannevirke got a pelting this morning with another 60 to 80mm of rain expected from Cape Kidnappers to Cape Palliser between 9am and 6pm today.