2m wave hits home

A freak wave in Rotorua has destroyed a 1.8m high fence, wrecked a road and shunted a car into a home.

The 2m wall of water swept down an Otonga hillside yesterday as Rotorua was swamped with 111mm of rain in 24 hours - close to the 115mm average for April.

The deluge caused several floods and led to off-duty fire service staff being called back to work to help with 25 callouts in 24 hours. The worst example was in Wychwood Cres.

A 2m high wave of water flooded the suburban Otonga street about 5pm, lifting the road, wrecking a fence, churning cobblestones out of driveways and shunting a car into a garage wall.

Jenny Cawte and her son Lawrence looked out their kitchen window and saw water gushing over a high fence in her back garden..

"It was incredible. It was just amazing.

"This huge wave of water came over the top of the fence.

"It took out our cobblestones and picked up the firewood and dumped it down the road. Even the road lifted up," she said.

Don and Marie Hamilton were mopping up water from their hallway as neighbours helped scoop water out of their garage when the Daily Post arrived on the scene.

In 24 year they hadn't seen anything like it, Mr Hamilton said.

"Never before.

"I was controlling the water and then suddenly the drain flooded and water was gushing everywhere," he said.

His neighbour's car was washed down the driveway and into their carport, he said.

"It was like the Tongariro River was coming through," he said.

MetService forecaster William Nepe said 23mm of rainfall drenched the city in the hour before 5pm with 111mm recorded in the 24 hours up until 6am this morning.

"It was a deluge," he said.

Average rainfall for April is about 115mm.

More is expected today with heavy thunderstorms and rainfall throughout the day.

"By Friday the rain should have subsided, Mr Nepe said.

Rotorua Fire Service deputy chief fire officer John Booth said the Wychwood St incident was the most serious of the floodings.

Seven fire appliances from Rotorua and Ngongotaha were kept busy responding to multiple floodings around the city including Petrie St and Pererika St.





He said having seven fire appliances operating at the same time was unusual.

There were reports of surface flooding on Sunset Rd, the intersection of Pukuatua St and Old Taupo Rd, Devon St, Kea St, Malfroy Rd and Sunset Rd.

The high court jury room and the bathroom in the judges' chambers at the Rotorua Courthouse were flooded.

Amidst the flooding was an electrical fire at Kowhai Motel on Ranolf St at about 5.30pm, senior station officer Cameron McEwen said.

"Things didn't start to calm down until about 7pm," he said.

Police issed a warning just before 6pm for drivers to keep off the roads as driving conditions were extremely hazardous.

Rotorua District Council works manager Peter Dine said a house on Petrie St had flooded.

It was understood the owners of the Petrie St property had to be evacuated.

Castlecorp acting general Mijo Katavic said Castlecorp workers had checked all of the stormwater outlets in the central city over recent days after receiving a warning of a storm.

Emergency services also reported widespread surface flooding in Taupo, 12 streets in Turangi and several streets in Whakatane.

Three buildings in Tokoroa were flooded including The Ark childcare centre.