A creek burst its banks on Lake Ferry Road south of Martinborough, Wairarapa. Photo / RNZ, Mary Argue
By Mary Argue RNZ
South Wairarapa residents are turning to one another in the face of “unprecedented” flooding that triggered several evacuations overnight.
The stormy weather lashing the region caused rivers to burst their banks, inundating roads and cutting off communities.
Thousands of homes were without power across Wairarapa on Monday morning, roads have been closed and schools and trains cancelled.
Flooding has isolated settlements from Pirinoa to Lake Ferry and the south coast at Cape Palliser – which is being battered by southerly gales and huge waves.
The wild weather meant South Wairarapa farmer Scotty Macdonald didn’t get much sleep, after helping evacuate three homes early on Monday morning.
Macdonald said the callouts weren’t official.
“We couldn’t get to Lake Ferry to get the fire trucks so we were just in our personal wagons.”
He said a couple of the homes were already on their way out the door, but the first call at 4am on Monday necessitated a wake-up.
A farmer shifting animals had got in touch with him directly after becoming concerned about flooding at his neighbour’s place.
“It’s previously flooded so we knew there was a risk there.
“Within another hour the house was probably close to a metre underwater, but at the time it was only lapping around the edges.”
The resident was woken up “very politely, of course” and told it was time to go.
“It’s time to boogie, buddy.”
Macdonald said the extent of the flooding has split already cut-off settlements into little islands on high ground.
“All along the road – where the rivers meet the road – the roads have been flooded, so we’ve kind of got little sections of population all the way along that are semi-isolated.
“I’ve been here all my life and we’ve had events like this before, but as far as the water levels go, this would be the highest. There are unprecedented areas that haven’t seen this kind of flooding before,” he said.
Macdonald said reception was patchy, but support agencies had been making phone calls and neighbours were checking in on one another where they could.
He said the only thing to do now was to hunker down and wait for the water to drop.
“It’s just too dangerous to go anywhere at the moment.”
Another resident told RNZ it had been a “long and loud night” and they were flooded in.
“[We’re] in the process of getting fallen trees off the driveways and the road in case the rivers decide to overflow.
“High tide’s not until 5am, so we’ll be watching how the day goes!”
They said friends in Whāngaimoana beach have had “their whole house go under”.
Fire and Emergency’s Ian Wright said earlier on Monday that residents in Ngāwī had been evacuated to Pirinoa Hall because of rising floodwaters, as well as some tourists at The Pinnacles Campgrounds.
On Monday morning former South Wairarapa District Councillor Brian Jephson told Local Democracy Reporting (LDR)’s Sue Teodoro that Cape Palliser Rd on the Wellington side of Ngāwī was damaged where a stream had blown out a culvert.
“It’s impassable,” he said.
“There’s not much point going down there until the water stops going through it.”
Jephson said while he had about 62mm of rain, his daughter further north had more than 200mm.
“This is nothing new for us down this way,” he said.
Powerco reported at 8.45am on Monday that storms across the lower North Island left 23,455 customers without power.
The hardest-hit areas were the Wairarapa with 8166 outages, Whanganui with 7846, and Manawatū with 6961.
“Wild weather is expected to continue in parts of the network today which may hamper reconnection work and cause more outages,” a spokesperson told LDR.
- RNZ