Ōakura's flood-weary Bruce Williams with his grandchildren Ayla and Reed Hetaraka. Photo / Susan Botting
A giant slip that has isolated the Whangāruru coast has also created a cloud of uncertainty for the owners of Ōakura’s popular fish and chip shop, who had a terrifying escape from rising floodwaters over the weekend.
The huge slip fell overnight Wednesday at the top of Helena Bay hill, blocking the southern Russell Rd entrance into the flood-hit area.
Russell Rd access from the north is also cut off after a bridge washed out at Ngaiotonga.
Whangārei Mayor Ken Couper says the sole alternate road access into the area was best used by emergency vehicles and locals only.
This access is via a narrow and dangerous gravel road from Kaiikanui Rd then Webb Rd via Whananaki into Teal Bay.
On Friday Couper urged people to stay off that access route unless they are a fulltime resident.
Ōakura fish and chip shop owners Bruce and Dana Williams fled their Ōakura home in chest-height water early on Sunday .
They are staying at the top of Helena Bay hill with their daughter Ella Williams.
The new slip is blocking their return to their business and putting a question mark over the reopening of Ōakura Skips Fish n Chips.
Bruce Williams said he had been told it could take two months to repair the slip.
The shop, famous for its hand-made doughnuts, has been shut since a weather bomb saw a summer’s worth of rain hit in a few hours on the coast northeast of Whangārei.
Couper said it was a major concern the community had been cut off.
Couper had lived through Cyclones Bola, Delilah and Gabrielle.
“But Ōakura and [the] surrounding area is as bad as we have ever seen.
“It’s worse than Cyclone Gabrielle,” Couper said.
Bruce and Dana Williams escaped their flooded Ōakura rental property about 5.30am on Sunday, wading through chest-height floodwaters in darkness to get to their shop 200m down the road.
“It was really terrifying. It was a vortex of chest-deep water pushing against us in the darkness. We nearly drowned,” Bruce Williams said.
“And I’ve seen dramas before. I’ve been at sea all my life.”
Dana Williams said the water was coming in the back door.
“We grabbed what we could and got out as fast as we could,” Dana said.
The couple and their two adult sons and dog walked for 10 minutes to get to the shop on slightly higher ground.
Their son then grabbed a boat and went around the flooded valley yelling at people to wake up and get out because of flooding.
“We’re exhausted,” Bruce Williams said.
The couple are today working with Northland Civil Defence to find emergency accommodation.
They had been going backwards and forwards to Ōakura through intermittent road access to clean up until now.
Whangārei District Council Civil Defence staff were this morning looking at how to address the giant slip’s impacts.
Couper said heavy machinery would be needed to evaluate its size and other features.
He said it would be a couple of days before that could happen.
The Government would be approached for financial assistance towards repairs.
Couper said it was too soon to put a dollar figure on the cost, but it would be significant.
He said 16 people and nine pets had been evacuated from Ōakura this week and were staying on marae and locally.
He said there was no quick fix for when they might be able to return home.
Couper said council roading contractors would be working on the slip while wastewater staff would head to Ōakura once slip access was sorted.
Building inspectors would follow, to check weather-affected properties.
The area had taken a double hit, first on Sunday then on Wednesday and Thursday .
Couper said his message to affected communities was to continue to pull together.
“Lean on each other. Keep up the co-operation demonstrated so far.”
Couper said civil defence and emergency services were working to make sure people received help as required.
He said people could be helicoptered out to emergency medical help if needed.
■ LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.