Flooding at the old garage in Ōhura's town centre on Sunday. A local resident said by the time this photo was taken, the water had gone down about half a metre or more. Photo / Ross Perry
Flooding at the old garage in Ōhura's town centre on Sunday. A local resident said by the time this photo was taken, the water had gone down about half a metre or more. Photo / Ross Perry
The mayor of one town hit by floods over the weekend says there could have been more specific warnings to people near a river that overflowed, who were worse affected, and “we can do better”.
Ōhura, a small inland town inthe Ruapehu District, was put under a State of Emergency about 3am Sunday, with some residents saying they received civil defence phone alerts to evacuate after 4am.
About 18 people spent the night in the Ōhura Memorial Hall, including some tourists who were stranded.
Swathes of farmland were still inundated on Sunday evening and the Ōhura main town centre was flooded throughout.
Ruapehu Mayor Weston Kirton said while Horizons Regional Council had warned farmers that heavy rain could affect their land and livestock, it eventually turned out the bigger impact was on the town centre, where there were houses close to the Mangaroa River.
“Not only did the township suffer from flooding, because it’s not well-protected with any stopbanks of note, so they basically get done like a dinner,” Kirton said.
“And it’s unfortunate that a lot of houses are affected by it. In this case, people were, like, chest-high, taking young children out, for example, and crossing over railway bridges to get into safe ground, and this was 2 or 3 o’clock in the morning.”
Kirton said some people had to make the call to self-evacuate.
And around the same time that he became aware of the situation and declared a State of Emergency, some families were already wading out of their flooded homes with water up to their chests.
Flooded farmland in Ōhura on Sunday. Photo / Ross Perry
“It’s difficult sometimes, particularly during the night, to ascertain what’s going on, the answer regarding warnings concerns – I think we can do better there,” he said.
Kirton said on Sunday afternoon he went with Minister for Emergency Management and Recovery Mark Mitchell for an aerial survey of the flood impact in Ōhura.
The hill country and pastures were still flooded, particularly the valleys, he said.
