“When it has gone over the top, it takes the superstructure off.”
Thinking it would just do that again, they drove one vehicle across during the day, and just before lunch they noticed a huge log jam had arrived on the bridge.
Their son, who had been coming to the farm, had seen things weren’t looking good and stopped on the other side, taking a video of the bridge being washed away.
The moment the bridge on Rakaiatai Road north of Dannevirke bowed under the weight of water and debris, breaking away before being washed downstream.
Charlie said at first when he told them the bridge was gone, they didn’t believe it.
“The water is six metres above the normal height to reach that bridge. It’s a big hole that’s gone when you see the gap, and the force to tip those girders over is phenomenal.”
For the moment, Charlie’s only means of access was by dinghy, as she worked in Dannevirke.
They borrowed the dinghy from a friend, and she would take a paddock car down about half a kilometre down the river, then she would jump in the dinghy to cross, walk up the hill and change into her work clothes to set off to work.
It was not an ideal situation.
“I really don’t want to be in the dinghy for winter. Crossing in the dark is not something I want to have to do.”
She said it wasn’t so bad by herself, but what was really challenging was having to take fuel over, or bring shearers over with all their gear, as well as getting in animal feed.
Charlie Menzies is having to cross the Manawatu river using a dinghy. Photo / Paul Taylor
Charlie and her husband have been talking with Tararua District Council about the situation, which she said had been very helpful.
“They’ve been solutions-focused and hope to get a ford put in so we can drive through the river.”
However, there have been roadblocks from Horizons Regional Council due to the need for resource consents for doing that, she said.
Whether it could have been prevented, or at least managed such in a way where the bridge would have stood up to the conditions, was something they would never really know.
Charlie said after the floods in the district in 2004, the regional council had sprayed the mature willow that had been planted a generation before to widen the river bed.
She said the dead trees would accumulate in the river and council workers had been clearing them out, but hadn’t done so for some time.
“There was an accumulation about a kilometre above us, apparently, and that all came down and met our bridge.”
Charlie said the amount of heavy rain, on top of what had already been an extremely wet summer, meant there was always going to be a lot of damage to properties, but other than the bridge, their farm wasn’t as badly damaged as those out toward the coast.
“It’s just the access that’s the difficult thing for us.”
