Northland mops up after four days of deluge

Parts of Northland, like Pipiwai, pictured, were inundated and roads covered in debris after days of heavy rain. Photo/John Stone

Northland is mopping up after four days of storm that caused flash floods, road closures, land slips, power outages and traffic mayhem.

At times community and emergency services' plans came into play to deal with potential threats to life and property.

At Waiomio residents voluntarily evacuated from their homes and gathered at nearby Mohinui Marae early on Friday evening.

Concerns were raised about one family further up the valley cut-off by flood waters, and Kawakawa Fire Brigade called on its distant Te Kopuru counterpart to bring an inflatable rescue boat north to be on stand-by.

The Te Kopuru brigade had the boat in Whangarei at the time, shortening what would otherwise be a 127km journey.

However, a neighbouring farmer was able to reach the house on his tractor and take the residents to the marae.

"That's the procedure outlined in the community plan, and it worked. It's a good example of why communities should have that kind of plan," Kawakawa Fire chief Wayne Martin said.

Several houses in the Allen Bell Drive area of Kaitaia were vacated due to flooding about 4am on Saturday, police said.

Police assisted with ensuring houses were secured and that the evacuees had places to go.

Despite several call-outs across the region, mostly due to flooding, emergency service chiefs say that while crews were kept busy they were not overwhelmed, and the region got off fairly lightly.

Roads and highways closed at times between Friday and Saturday or subject to an emergency watch were at Waiomio, SH10 at Kaeo and Bulls Gorge, and SH12 at Omanaia near the Rawene turn-off.

Ararua Rd, between Ahipara and Broadwood, and SH1 One south of Kaitaia were blocked by landslips.

From Friday evening until Saturday morning, SH15 (Mangakahia Rd) and Tangowahine Valley Rd were blocked due to floods or slips.

Kaikohe Fire Brigade had fewer call-outs than expected considering the length and force of the deluge, fire chief and also Far North District Council Civil Defence head, Bill Hitchinson said.

"The fire brigades have been responding as needed but have not been overwhelmed," he said yesterday.

Rivers and streams rose and fell fairly quickly during the storm's heavy cloudbursts but the main cause of the flash flooding that swamped roads was debris blocking drains and culverts, Mr Hutchinson said.

There were incidents on the Far North's east coast and at Rawene where houses had water through them but were not significantly damaged.

MetService forecaster Cameron Coutts said Kaitaia had the highest recorded rainfall with 72mm between 9pm on Friday and 10am on Sunday.

"There would have been more rain in more isolated areas but if it doesn't hit the rain gauges it's not recorded," he said.

Between that same time period Dargaville had 42.8mm of rain, Kaikohe had 32.4mm, Kerikeri recorded 32.4mm and Whangarei received 18.2mm.

Humidity ranged between 80 to 90 per cent over the weekend.

This week's forecast was looking less wet.

"It's looking pretty good. Today we expect lots of fine spells the south westerlies will have eased. There will be a few showers but those are expected to clear midweek," Mr Coutts said.