Gisborne slip traps drivers overnight

Farms were swamped as 250mm of rain fell in two days. Photo / APN

More than 20 motorists, some towing horses, are still stranded this morning, having spent the night stuck in their vehicles after they were trapped between a slip and a washed-out bridge near rain-soaked Gisborne.

Police said that in the latest washout 26 motorists were forced to overnight at the Otoko rest area, about 52km northwest of Gisborne. They were blocked by a slip at Otoko Hill and a washed-out bridge on State Highway 2.

"They're stuck in their vehicles there still waiting to be dug out," Sergeant Jo Chalmers of Gisborne police told NZPA this morning.

"That'd be a bit of a drama for some people."

Local farmers had visited the trapped motorists to check on their welfare, while contractors were working to clear the slip and re-open the washed-out bridge.

Ms Chalmers said some of the trapped drivers had horse floats and were heading to the Gisborne Agricultural and Pastoral show, which was due to get off to a soggy start today.

It was the second such drama on the roads near Gisborne, after yesterday about 20 cars were trapped between two large slips on SH2 between Matawai and Te Karaka.

One of the slips shunted two cars together, causing an elderly man to suffer suspected back injuries.

An ambulance was sent from Opotiki, but a rescue helicopter could not be dispatched due to the atrocious weather.

Police and volunteer firefighters evacuated all the trapped motorists to a nearby fire station.

Workers were clearing the slips and the road was expected to reopen today.

A number of minor roads in the rain-battered Gisborne region remained closed today, but all other main roads were open.

Rainfall eased overnight after heavy showers and thunderstorms in the afternoon brought 22mm of rain in the lowlands and up to 58mm in the ranges since 8am yesterday. That came on top of up to 300mm of rain in the previous 30 hours.

Gisborne Civil Defence controller Jon Davies warned more slips were likely, despite the rain easing.

"The slips up at Matawai occurred with very little extra rain ... It just shows once you've got saturated land, it doesn't take much more to actually go and create further slips and problems," he told NZPA.

"We will still have continuing slips on our internal roads as well as state highways over the next few days - we will still have continuing road damage and road access problems."

As well as causing extensive roading damage, surface flooding had been a headache for local farmers.

Mr Davies said there was a great deal of damage done to newly planted crops at Poverty Bay Flats, just south of Gisborne.

Extensive flooding on the Gisborne Flats was in some places up to 1m deep.

The overall cost of clean-up and repairs in the region would be "quite substantial", although it was far too early to put a figure on it.

"The drains were still full yesterday and the surface water was going down very slowly, so it will most probably take a day or so until it can be assessed as to what damage there has been, particularly to recent plantings."

MetService forecaster Andy Downs said further showers were expected today, with the potential for heavy downpours and thunderstorms in the ranges bringing between 10mm to 25mm in an hour.

"After that though we are looking to the flow turning to the nor-west, which is good news for them really," he told NZPA.

"Although it's going to be windy from the nor-west, it's a sheltered direction for the Gisborne region, so they'll have a few days after these showers today to start drying out."

- NZPA