The Country
  • The Country home
  • Latest news
  • Audio & podcasts
  • Opinion
  • Dairy farming
  • Sheep & beef farming
  • Rural business
  • Rural technology
  • Rural life
  • Listen on iHeart radio

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • Coast & Country News
  • Opinion
  • Dairy farming
  • Sheep & beef farming
  • Horticulture
  • Animal health
  • Rural business
  • Rural technology
  • Rural life

Media

  • Podcasts
  • Video

Weather

  • Kaitaia
  • Whāngarei
  • Dargaville
  • Auckland
  • Thames
  • Tauranga
  • Hamilton
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Tokoroa
  • Te Kuiti
  • Taumurunui
  • Taupō
  • Gisborne
  • New Plymouth
  • Napier
  • Hastings
  • Dannevirke
  • Whanganui
  • Palmerston North
  • Levin
  • Paraparaumu
  • Masterton
  • Wellington
  • Motueka
  • Nelson
  • Blenheim
  • Westport
  • Reefton
  • Kaikōura
  • Greymouth
  • Hokitika
  • Christchurch
  • Ashburton
  • Timaru
  • Wānaka
  • Oamaru
  • Queenstown
  • Dunedin
  • Gore
  • Invercargill

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / The Country

Devastation as flood sweeps pine plantation debris through farms

By Kristin Edge
Northern Advocate·
25 Sep, 2016 04:00 PM2 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

A build-up of slash and logs after heavy rain. Photo/Supplied

A build-up of slash and logs after heavy rain. Photo/Supplied

Flash flooding brought a deluge of pine plantation slash and logs down a Northland river devastating farm properties in its path.

Dairy farmer Greig Alexander reckons he will spend the next two weeks cleaning up the mess and fixing fences and snapped posts after an early-morning downpour yesterday swept pine plantation "rubbish" through his property on Opouteke Rd.

He said more needed to be done to hold forestry owners to account so debris did not enter the Opouteke River, which feeds into the Mangakahia River, and cause damage for farm owners downstream.

The latest flood had swamped some paddocks were Alexander had stock and he was up at 3am yesterday to check they were not being washed away.

"I looked at one group of cattle and I could see a bunch of eyes staring back and not swimming so I went on to the next lot," he said.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

He said he had checked the MetService weather report the night before but said the deluge was unexpected.

As day broke the damage became clear.

"There was the usual debris, slash and logs. There were whole trees and they go through the wires and snap posts," he said.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"Whole trees with root balls get washed down and act like battering rams."

While there was a substantial amount of damage to clean up there was some relief it was not as bad as the July floods two years ago when there were four downpours that continually washed through forest debris.

Alexander, who has been farming the block of land for more than 40 years, said in the early years he did not have such a problem as there were no pine plantations being harvested in the area.

"Once they started harvesting all the cuttings seemed to get in the waterways."

Discover more

Environment

Northland dairy farmers advised to sort out employment records

25 Sep 12:54 AM

Police had reports of Mangakahia Rd being closed because of floodwaters at about 9.30am yesterday. Vehicles, including a milk tanker, were unable to pass through.

Save

    Share this article

Latest from The Country

The Country

Te Puke incident: Person airlifted after serious injury

The Country

Chris Hipkins ponders a grand coalition on The Country

The Country

Celebrations start Saturday for Poverty Bay A&P Association's 150th year


Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from The Country

Te Puke incident: Person airlifted after serious injury
The Country

Te Puke incident: Person airlifted after serious injury

One person was airlifted to Waikato Hospital in a serious condition.

17 Jul 02:26 AM
Chris Hipkins ponders a grand coalition on The Country
The Country

Chris Hipkins ponders a grand coalition on The Country

17 Jul 01:45 AM
Celebrations start Saturday for Poverty Bay A&P Association's 150th year
The Country

Celebrations start Saturday for Poverty Bay A&P Association's 150th year

16 Jul 11:26 PM


Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

06 Jul 09:47 PM
NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • NZ Herald e-editions
  • Daily puzzles & quizzes
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP