Anzac Parade was one of the hardest-hit areas in the city after the 2015 flood.
Anzac Parade was one of the hardest-hit areas in the city after the 2015 flood.
On Saturday, June 20, 2015, one month’s worth of rain fell on Whanganui in 24 hours. The Chronicle recounts the weekend of our worst flood on record with those who were there.
Annette Main remembers the 2015 flood “like it was yesterday”.
Not only was she personally impactedwith her home up the Whanganui River flooded but, as mayor at the time, she had to front the district’s response.
Some 133mm of rain fell on Whanganui in 48 hours over June 19 and 20, dumping 190 million cubic metres of water that had to leave the catchment.
But all that water could not be contained by the Whanganui River, which in the early hours of Sunday, June 21, burst its banks, flooding parts of Taupō Quay and Lower Victoria Ave.
The worst-hit part of the city was Anzac Parade opposite Kowhai Park, with flooding up to the eaves of some houses.
Horizons Regional Council recorded the Whanganui River reaching a peak of 9.1m at Town Bridge at 3am the following morning, with a flow rate of 4690cu m per second.
There was also widespread flooding in Rangitīkei, South Taranaki and surrounding rural areas, with significant slips on rural roads.
“My issues were minor compared to what we were seeing as we went around,” Main said.
“There were a lot of earth falls on our surrounding hills, where we’ve built, with huge damage to properties.”
Central Government representatives were quick to join emergency management meetings as events unfolded, she said.
“I was very impressed how available ministers were – coming to our aid and doing the best they could to provide what we needed.”
Main said Whanganui had an amazing Civil Defence team, but there was not much it could do “when the water has gone down and your house is full of mud”.
Workers seen tackling the clean-up on lower Victoria Ave after the floodwaters receded.
There were a lot of heartbreaking stories of damage after flood waters receded, she said.
Trev Benson, his wife Sandra and their three boys lived just off Anzac Parade, opposite the Kowhai Park Dairy, and lost all their precious possessions.
The only item Benson remembers surviving was the oven.
The day before the flood, he remembers going for a walk with his boys to gauge what was happening in the area and made the decision to remove items from their basement to higher ground.
Later on Saturday there was a knock on the door by police and the family were told they had 15 minutes to evacuate.
Water, silt and sewage went through their whole house, top to bottom.
It was three days before the family could get back into the property and they had 15 minutes to grab any essentials while under police escort.
Main said with time, “there is an air of complacency that comes in”.
“I think we forget how unusual it is to have such a large river, with such a large catchment behind it, flowing directly through a major urban area, where we’ve settled along the banks,” she said.
Annette Main was Mayor of Whanganui at the time of the 2015 floods and says there were lots of heartbreaking stories of damage.
Main said she still had concerns about flood protection in the district.
“Our awa flows through the centre of our city and we always need to be thinking about planning for the future.”
Rangitīkei Mayor Andy Watson said people in his district often recalled the 2004 flooding incident.
“But in terms of cost to council, 2015 was worse in terms of infrastructural damage,” he said.
“For me, it was one of the toughest nights of my life.
“The reason I say that is because when things quietened down in the middle of night, I and one police officer manned the phones for two or three hours to let everybody have a break and start fresh in the morning.
“I received a call from Horizons to say that there was a carload of people trapped in rising floodwaters in Whangaehu, these were people who had gone back in after Civil Defence has been activated.
“We had to say to them, ‘you need to stay where you are, we think that the flood has peaked but if you try and swim you will drown’. It was horrific.”
Rangitīkei Mayor Andy Watson says the night of the flood was one of the toughest of his life.
They survived and Watson said much of the response after the initial emergency was trying to mitigate the impact.
“To arrange Government compensation to some of the farmers, they were not easy times,” he said.
“Having personally been through this myself in 2004 with a significantly flood-affected property, I know the hurt and I know it can break you as a person and break you as a business.”
