Wellington weather: Stokes Valley road ‘disintegrating’ in flood waters

Roads in a Lower Hutt suburb have “essentially exploded” as heavy rain and overflowing storm drains caused water to burst up through the ground.

Cracks and holes have shown up in streets around Stokes Valley, with dirty water bubbling up underneath.

The intense weather also brought down a small landslide behind a nearby home, which did not appear to have touched the house.

The Wellington region has been under an onslaught of rain and wind since yesterday evening, with many locals waking to downed trees and powerlines, no electricity, and widespread flooding.

In Stokes Valley, Kamahi St appeared to be taking the brunt of the water damage, with dramatic photos and videos showing the road “disintegrating”, one resident said.

“The road surface is buggered, it has lifted and is disintegrating,” said Terene Batten.

There were many “shredded trees” and a large amount of surface water when she drove through the suburb amidst the “pretty impressive storm”.

Footage showed a manhole cover forced open by a small geyser of water. In other videos, the mangled surface of the road was covered in debris.

Local man Jeff Lummis believed a burst stormwater drain had caused parts of the road to lift.

“Water was tracking in towards one property, which might have some minor damage,” he said.

He estimated it had lifted 200mm in some places.

“Don’t come up Kamahi St. The road has essentially exploded,” one woman wrote on Facebook, alongside a video of water flowing like a river down the street.

Kamahi St, Stokes Valley, Lower Hutt, has been badly damaged during flooding.

Megan Goodall told the Herald the road was extremely damaged, with holes and fissures with water coming out.

Fulton Hogan was monitoring the road closures, but Goodall said “at this stage there’s nothing they can do”.

Some homes on the Lower Hutt street were flooded, along with several others in the region.

Emergency services were called elsewhere in Stokes Valley when a slip came down behind a house on George St. The slip stopped short of hitting the building and it did not appear anybody had been injured.

At least 1000 households in the suburb have also been without power since early this morning, while tens of thousands around the lower North Island are also out of electricity.

Some parts of the Wellington region may be without power for days, Wellington Electricity has warned.

Strong winds have brought trees down on houses and blocked roads across the region overnight, with an “extremely unusual” 193km/h gust measured in Wellington.

Air New Zealand earlier paused all flights in and out of Napier and Palmerston North, but some flights in and out of Wellington have resumed.

Flooding on Kamahi St, Stokes Valley, forced up a manhole cover and broke holes in the surface of the road.

Multiple severe weather warnings remain in place across the North Island and upper South Island.

The red heavy warning for Manawatū, Rangitīkei and Ruapehu Districts, north of Feilding and east of SH1 has lifted but an orange warning remains in place until 3pm.

Much of the eastern side of the North Island, as well as the Kaikōura District and Canterbury, north of Amberley, remains under an orange heavy rain warning.

Melissa Nightingale is a Wellington-based reporter who covers crime, justice and news in the capital. She joined the Herald in 2016 and has worked as a journalist for 12 years.