State of emergency to remain for another 24 hours

1.00pm

A state of civil defence emergency is expected to remain in place for another 24 hours in parts of the Bay of Plenty.

Two women died and around 1500 people were evacuated as a result of weekend flooding and earthquakes. About 500 residents returned to their homes yesterday afternoon but at least 1000 people spent another night in temporary accommodation.

On top of more than 250mm of rainfall in the towns of Whakatane, Opotiki and Edgecumbe in 48 hours over the weekend, the area was hit from Sunday by a swarm of over 100 earthquakes, which added to slips and other damage already caused by flooding.

Following a briefing today, Whakatane District Council spokeswoman Diane Turner said it was likely evacuees would remain out of their homes for at least another night.

A state of emergency in the district was to be reviewed at noon today but was expected to remain in place for at least another 24 hours, she said.

Up to 3000 dwellings and 10,000 people out of the district's population of 34,000 could have been affected by the flooding, but more work needed to be done to refine those figures.

Another focus today was to register people who had been evacuated but were not among the 998 so far registered, Ms Turner said.

"We know many people evacuated themselves and have gone to unknown destinations."

Work was also under way to assess continuing flooding in the Thornton area on the Rangitaiki Plains, near the coast northwest of Whakatane.

Concerns were raised about looting, with Whakatane chief fire officer Ken Clark saying youths had been seen moving around flooded streets in rowing boats and canoes.

Ms Turner said after today's briefing that police had advised they had security under control. No comment was immediately available from Whakatane police.

Earlier she said that under the state of emergency in force, none of those still evacuated had been allowed to visit their homes yesterday.

Several factors were behind that ruling, including concerns about health and safety, and because of security concerns.

Police were being helped by members of the army in Unimog trucks to patrol areas that had been evacuated, Ms Turner said.

Residents of Edgecumbe in the Bay of Plenty were today mounting floating neighbourhood watch patrols to stop looters.

Sven Willumsen and Ard van der Aar were using their dinghy to look out for looters after police reports of flood-damaged homes being targeted by thieves.

"I've only been here three weeks. It's a strange way to bring everyone together but we look out for one another," Mr van der Aar said.

Police and army officers organised security patrols in some areas, after reports that "kids in rowing boats" were burgling houses.

Among those helping out in the Bay of Plenty was a six-member rescue team from Palmerston North, which gained experience dealing with floods that hit the lower North Island in February.

Bay of Plenty emergency response workers called on Palmerston North for help at 6.30pm on Sunday. By 7.30, the team was on its way north in a Palmerston North City Council four-wheel-drive vehicle, equipped with rescue gear.

"Our recent experience in the February floods, and the fact our team is fully trained and recently certified, meant they knew we'd be right up to date," said city council spokesman Ray McIndoe.

Rotorua District Council said today small earthquake aftershocks were still being reported and were expected to continue for a week or more.

Residents had been startled on Sunday by three large earthquakes, centred in the Lake Rotoehu and Lake Rotoma areas, the largest measuring 5.4 on the Richter scale.

Five houses were considered uninhabitable for now until in-depth engineering assessments were made. Two of the houses were in the Lake Rotoma area and three near Lake Rotoiti, Rotorua District Council spokesman Rex Moore said.

Residents of the houses had found somewhere else to stay.

Environment Bay of Plenty spokesman Bruce Fraser said the emphasis today was on determining whether a 150m breach in a stopbank on the eastern side of the Rangitaiki River above Edgecumbe could be filled.

Floodwaters were continuing to pour onto the Rangitaiki Plains through the breach, he said.

The breach was being viewed from the air today and from a jetboat in which sounding equipment was being used to assess the depth of the breach.

A calculation would be done about how much rock would be needed to fill the breach, but there were also issues about whether enough rock was available and whether trucks could get to the area.

The Rangitaiki River was running about 4m above normal levels early today, having peaked at 5.38m above normal on Sunday, Mr Fraser said.

Water fell slowly in the Rangitaiki system, which included large numbers of streams and started far back in the centre of the North Island.

Rain being forecast for late tonight would be monitored closely, he said.

Pumps were working flat out trying to get water that was on the Rangitaiki plains and had run up against raised areas, such as ridges and sand dunes, onto land and into canals leading to the Whakatane River system that now had some extra capacity.

"We just can't get it there. There's too many things in the way and those pumps are operating at full capacity now," Mr Fraser said.