Hundreds of people evacuated as more downpours forecast

A home in Welcome Bay destroyed by a mudslide. Picture / Alan Gibson

"A white station wagon with its interior lights still on is floating out at sea."

Carmel Murphy, whose parents own Murphy's Holiday Camp 3km from Matata in flood-hit Bay of Plenty, said last night she was heading to the camp when her path was blocked by metre-deep water.

"I saw a couple of caravans and a house going by. Huge boulders were rolling across the road."

Hundreds of people were evacuated and states of emergency declared in parts of the province after 24 hours of torrential rain caused widespread flooding.

Mudslides and water smashed houses and forced evacuations in Tauranga and Papamoa, but it was the small settlement of Matata that lost entire houses to the sea.

Ms Murphy said new torrents were streaming down from the hills.

"There was a river of mud and silt and logs that were even going uphill."

Four to five caravans from the holiday camp floated out to sea, she said.

Matata resident Bill Whalley said he saw four or five cars, a housebus and building site portacabin floating down the street in water up to 5m deep.

One neighbour was sitting on the roof of his car, which floated for about 400m. He scrambled to safety when the car washed up on sand dunes.

Mr Whalley said Norfolk pines about 15m tall were smashed over and washed up against houses.

He was staying in Whakatane after being forced out of home. He praised the local fire brigade. "We couldn't have got out if it wasn't for them."

A train was stuck on the line at Pikowai, west of Matata, and 14 people stranded in the area by a washed-out bridge had not been able to leave since yesterday morning.

By 11pm civil defence had evacuated nearly 200 residents from Matata, where at least two homes had been completely washed away.

Five 41-seater buses were used to transport residents out of danger following reports of severe water damage and extensive flooding.

Whakatane District Council spokeswoman Mary Hermanson said the residents would have to spend the night at the Whakatane War Memorial hall. Red Cross workers tried to find dry clothes, bedding and food for them.

Further up the coast, 64 Tauranga residents and 25 Papamoa residents were forced to spend the night in temporary accommodation after a record downpour of 310mm in 24 hours saturated the city.

Evacuated homes in nine Tauranga streets were being guarded overnight to prevent residents from re-entering and to deter thieves.

The Papamoa evacuations started as nightfall arrived and the beach became a danger area as swollen streams poured into the sea.

Residents were evacuated after calling for help, by which time some of their homes were waist-deep in water. The Tauranga evacuations followed a state of emergency being declared in the city about 4pm.

The problems began in the Bay of Plenty around noon, with Tauranga and parts of SH2 bearing the brunt of the rain early on.

Children were trapped in schools, roads and bridges had washed away and landslides threatened at least a dozen homes.

Further south, railway lines had buckled under the pressure of floodwaters and 20 motorists were trapped on a 2km section of SH2 near Matata after two bridges were washed away.

As heavy rain continued to fall throughout the Bay of Plenty and Coromandel, emergency services struggled to keep up with hundreds of 111 calls.

Auckland firefighters and members of the Urban Search and Rescue team were put on standby to help. Metservice forecaster Andy Downs said up to 100mm of rain was expected to fall in the already sodden areas by 10am today.

That comes on top of the 310mm of rain in Tauranga in 24 hours to yesterday - the biggest dousing in the city since records began.

At one stage 97.2mm fell in two hours - a one-in-150-year event and more than Tauranga's May monthly rainfall.

MetService weather ambassador Bob McDavitt said the rain was because of a low-pressure system that was sitting over the region and the Tasman Sea.

"The moisture from a northerly flow from the Tropics is converging with the low-pressure system, causing it to rain."

A high-pressure system to the south of the country was blocking the low from moving.