Extreme kayakers revel in extreme weather

An adventurous kayaker takes on the raging waters of the Ohinemuri in the Karangahake Gorge near Waihi after heavy rain and flooding swelled the river. Picture / Alan Gibson

Kayakers found thrills aplenty in the flooding that hit homes and roads in parts of the Coromandel Peninsula at the weekend.

Ben Brown and Greg Thomas from Hamilton, Kori Lentfer from Auckland and Dave Buckton of Te Puke took to the surging waters of the usually calm Ohinemuri River in the Karangahake Gorge yesterday for some adrenalin-pumping thrills.

By the time they entered the muddy torrent in the cold and rain, the river had dropped at least a metre and a half from early morning, when it had overflowed the highway alongside in several places.

Similar to dedicated surfers, the experienced kayakers looked up websites to find the best places for a spot of extreme sport.

Mr Brown, a professional kayaker, studied the rain gauges and saw that the overnight deluge was enough to bring the Ohinemuri, between Waihi and Paeroa, to a quite intimidating level.

"It's relatively unusual to be paddling that sort of water in that river, which wouldn't normally have rapids."

Mr Brown, who twice negotiated the most exciting 2km stretch where the water was powering at an estimated 30km an hour, denied it was foolhardy.

"That is what I do for a living. It might look a little bit crazy but we always try to operate within boundaries," he said.

Elsewhere on the Coromandel it was not such fun. Several motorists had to be rescued from vehicles caught in rising floodwaters on State Highway 25 near Hikuai, north of Whangamata.

Pauanui was isolated by a large washout on its main access road and the Fire Service had to take a boy who had developed breathing problems by boat to Tairua.
There he was met by an ambulance and taken to Thames for treatment.

The peninsula's east coast appeared to be the worst hit, with several roads closed for a time and water entering basements.

By yesterday afternoon the heavy rain had moved on to Gisborne and Hawkes Bay, with Taranaki also due for overnight downpours.

MetService weather ambassador Bob McDavitt said the storms were caused by a low crossing the north of the North Island. The worst was between 9pm and 11pm on Saturday.

"The low went past like an express train. There was no stopping it - it went 'boom, boom'," he said.

An accompanying electrical storm brought an estimated 200 lightning strikes an hour right through Northland and as far down as Thames, putting on a spectacular show in Auckland.

"It was caused by moist air from the east and cold air from the west drawing together, with the low in between," Mr McDavitt said.

"There was lots of lightning, most of it over Northland."

"It must be school holidays," he said. "When it's time to go back the weather starts to improve again."

It is a year today (Mon July 18) since floods wrought widespread havoc in the Eastern Bay of Plenty - an event since overshadowed by the floods and landslips that hit Matata and parts of Tauranga hard in May, 10 months later.

At the height of last July's flooding almost 2000 people were evacuated and, 12 months on, a handful of families remain out of their homes.