WHILE heavy rain caused problems for traffic and farmers in North Wairarapa this week South Wairarapa and Carterton district councils are facing a combined bill of over $500,000 to repair roads damaged in the August storms.
Council agendas for last month's meetings say Carterton District Council needs to spend $35,000 for
road repairs, with an estimated further $30,000 required to complete the removal of slips and other repairs.
The second figure does not include the permanent repair of the slow moving drop outs on the Admiral and Flat Point roads, according to a council report.
South Wairarapa fared even worse, with an estimated $358,000 worth of damage to roads in the district and an additional $151,000 worth of damage to the Cape Palliser special purpose road.
The government road-funder, Transfund, will pay for all the Cape Palliser Road repairs and the other roads get a 66 per cent subsidy from the funding body, meaning council has to pay out $121,720 for its share.
The council's plan has a provision of just $15,000 for road storm repair and the extra money will come from budget surplus.
The report's author, works and services manager Ravi Mangar, said for the past two years flood damage repair costs has increased significantly.
"Recent heavy rain and flooding caused many slips and dropouts. Oldfields Asphalts responded with additional resources and sub-contractors.
"Several of our roads were closed to traffic for two to three days and the approach to the bridge on the Whatarangi Road was washed away and the road was not opened to normal traffic until nearly a week after the flood," Mr Mangar said.
He said repair work to restore all the district's roads to pre-storm condition would take several months.
With the February and August floods repair work, other planned jobs had been delayed and Mr Mangar was expecting complaints about potholes and pavement failures until the backlog of work was cleared.
