A Central Hawke’s Bay farmer says floods that turned Omakere paddocks into an ocean raged through the area harder than Cyclone Bola, undoing months of recovery work from Cyclone Gabrielle.
Mark Warren, who farms at Waipari Station, said he had not seen flooding of the scale of Tuesday’s torrent in decades.
“We knew we’d get a bit of rain, but we didn’t know that we’d get the volume we’ve had.”
Warren estimated about 250mm of rain fell on his property, with parts of the farm receiving nearly double what the amount they did during Cyclone Gabrielle.
“About a month ago, we celebrated the fact that we pretty well got on top of the major excess damage from Cyclone Gabby, and now we’re probably back to square one again,” he said.
Warren said what made the event stand out was its intensity and how localised the rainfall appeared to be.
Omakere School closed for the day on Tuesday and Wednesday, while the Omakere Hall and Mangakuri Station Chapels were surrounded by the floodwaters.
“It feels worse for us than Cyclone Bola,” Warren said.
He said fears about the latest flooding started when he and his partner, Di Williams, heard the rain on the roof followed by thunderstorms on Monday night.
The sudden downpour quickly turned into flooding, with water levels rising over known markers on the farm and eventually cutting off his access roads.
“We’ve got certain points we check, and once it gets past those, we know it’s going to get messy,” Warren said.
“Our road was completely flooded. In places it was nearly a metre deep.”
The pair were able to leave the property using a 4WD vehicle, but said the journey was “pretty nerve-racking”.
“At one point, we were getting pushed around by the floodwaters crossing the road,” Warren said.
While their home remains safe, being built on higher ground, Warren said the wider impact across the property includes damage to fences and slips in hill country.
Communication in the area has also been disrupted, with internet and cell coverage lost during the storm.
“It’s just a bit of a mess out there.”
Omakere School principal Sue Taylor said while the school itself was not flooded, the nearby community hall was “completely inundated.”
She said the hall was used by the school and wider community.
“It was still trying to have repairs done on it from Cyclone Gabrielle, so they’re going to be back to square one,” Taylor said.
The school reopens on Thursday.
On Wednesday morning, Central Hawke’s Bay Mayor Will Foley said the weather was easing.
“[I] appreciate it’s been a pretty rough 48 hours for a lot of you, particularly out on the coast, coastal areas, and so our thoughts go to everyone that’s been impacted out there.”
He said a lot of the beaches and farms along the coastline would have suffered damage and advised people to keep in contact with the council.
He said roading crews were prioritising areas including Shoal Beach, Pourerere, Mangakuri, Kairakau, Elsthorpe and Omakere.
“There will still be some flooding in those areas, so please don’t drive where you shouldn’t and have a little bit of patience.”
This afternoon, MetService issued a swell warning for Central Hawke’s Bay that is in effect until 3am Thursday morning.
King tides were still in effect on the coast.
Waves were expected to reach up to 4 metres, with the greatest risk usually at or within one to two hours of high tide, which is at 9.29pm today.
Tararua District Council today said the weather had “improved greatly” but there were still roading issues, with further slips overnight Tuesday.
At 11am nine roads were closed due to slips and treefall, with some roads down to single-lane traffic or 4WD access for residents only.
Ākitio remained cut off and closed to all traffic, with both Coast Rd and River Rd remaining closed after further slips overnight.
The community had power and telecommunications.
Route 52 was open with one lane and caution was required due to multiple slips and fallen trees.
“The road network is still very vulnerable due to ground saturation and continuing rain,” a council spokesperson said.
Herbertville Pub kitchen hand Latoya Cawsey – who is the wife of campground manager Chris Cawsey – said they had decided not to evacuate from the campground after an emergency mobile alert was issued at 8.33pm on Tuesday.
She said a few permanent shareholders at the camp chose to leave, but seven, including her family, stayed put.
“The river, luckily, didn’t actually come fully into the campground like it did last time, it just stayed level, and the tide worked in our favour this time around and kept sucking the water out.”
She said power and cellphone service were restored about 1pm on Tuesday, and there was surface flooding around some of the baches at the campground.
Te Awanga Point Holiday Park manager Darrel Strickland said about 10 residents were evacuated from the camp around high tide overnight on Tuesday as waves flooded the creek at the property’s border.
“I had no idea it was coming until I went out and had a look at the ocean and it’s starting to lap over,” Strickland said.
Strickland said about four cabins had damage to carpets from the lapping waters.
“People are safe, no one got injured, so we’re all good, that’s the main thing.”
Hastings District Council today said there had been “really solid rain” in parts of Hastings over the past 24 hours, with up to 200mm in some places in the hills.
“Even though the rain has eased, please keep away from streams and rivers. There has been some tree fall, so also take extra care on the roads, especially in rural areas.”
MetService placed Hawke’s Bay, north of Tūtira, under a yellow-level heavy rain watch until 2pm today.