Coromandel town's road access still cut by floods

The small Coromandel settlement of Pauanui is expected to remain largely cut off until tomorrow after torrential rain flooded the only road in and out of the town.

Pauanui has about only 500-600 permanent residents but about 2000 houses.

"Eighty per cent are holiday homes and the population would have been boosted by the school holiday," Thames Coromandel District Council spokesman Peter Hazael said.

Pauanui is about 10km from State Highway 25 and Hikowhai Settlement Rd was cut when a temporary culvert for a stream was washed out when about 170mm of rain fell yesterday and the road put under over a metre of water.

"We had plans to put the new culvert in in the next two weeks -- we had some temporary culverts in there -- but mother nature was obviously not in the loop as far as our timetable was concerned and let all hell break loose," Mr Hazael said.

He said drizzle was still falling today, hampering efforts to repair the road.

The only ways to get out of the town is by passenger-only ferry to nearby Tairua or using an airfield.



- NZPA