Rescuers’ relentless fight against deluge

Emergency services inspect damaged houses in Welcome Bay, Tauranga. Picture / Alan Gibson

In 22 years Mount Maunganui fire officer Keith Silvester has never seen his town flood to the extent of yesterday.

He and his colleagues worked all morning without a break, unblocking drains and pumping water from flooded homes and businesses as fast as they could.

"A lot of people, you can't do anything for them except lift their furniture."

Six volunteers helped clean up sodden carpets at the Good Opportunity Shop in the shopping area on Maunganui Rd while staff at Bayfair Shopping Mall, at the other end of the main road, were also mopping up the last of a mess left when a stormwater drain burst at 1am.

Firefighters were at the mall until 6am pumping out water, which flooded into eight shops via a manhole. Sandbags were piled up by the manhole, which pulsed with the huge volume of water flowing underneath.

K Mart was the worst affected, with 3cm of water covering three-quarters of the football field-sized store floor when duty manager Andrew Ogilvie arrived at 9am.

Thankfully damage to stock was minimal as most of it was on pallets or shelves.

"We were able to open for business," Mr Ogilvie said.

On Portside Drive, in the town's industrial area, stranded truckies anxious to get on their way risked driving through a section of the road closed because it was waist-deep in water.

Getting out of town was no easy task for anyone after the harbour bridge connecting Mount Maunganui with Tauranga was closed because of flooding on either side.

Motorists were left with no choice but to take the alternative route across the harbour at the opposite end of town.

Traffic crawled along the entire route, which had already been slowed by roadworks.

All day firetrucks and police cars could be seen racing to jobs in both directions.

The Rudolf Steiner School in Welcome Bay was evacuated as fears mounted that pupils could become trapped by rising floodwaters on the road outside.

"It's impossible to get cars in and out," a spokeswoman said.

Buses were brought in to move the 116 students and 24 kindergarten children at the school to a pick-up point where parents could collect them.

Other schools also sent pupils home early.

Mount Maunganui College students stood waiting for rides in the pouring rain after they were let out at 11am. Others abandoned their shoes and waded along flooded footpaths.

Otumoetai Intermediate School student Joel Wiki and his friend spent the afternoon surveying the damage in their neighbourhood on their bikes.

Joel, 11, said his house had escaped flooding, but he had not.

"My shoes got flooded."

A television in his house had also "blown up" after rain leaked on to it through a window.

The pair were not alone in making their way through the mud and puddles in Otumoetai.

Many people walked around the area worst affected by flooding and landslides.

The water had receded but a waist-high tidemark remained on several houses.

Anna Rutherford was near to tears as a team of church volunteers helped her remove sodden belongings from the flat that was home to her and her two children. "Everything's destroyed," she said.

Pregnant with her third child, she said she had no insurance and did not know what she would do.

"I guess you just see what can be saved."