A number of residents in Marton in the Rangitīkei District have been evacuated, while flooding and slips have forced the closure of parts of State Highway 1 and State Highway 3 in the central North Island after torrential rain lashed the area overnight.
The Rangitīkei District Council evacuated some residents from their homes, including the flats in Wellington Rd, Marton.
Some houses along the Tutaenui Stream have been evacuated.
Flooding on Raine St, Whanganui May 21, 2023. Photo / Whanganui Civil Defence
A post on the council’s Facebook page said “We have activated the welfare centre for anyone that has been evacuated. The fire service, including volunteer service, is out monitoring and evacuating people,”
“Anyone in Marton that needs to evacuate can go to Te Rūnanga o Ngā Wairiki Ngāti Apa at 85 Hendersons Line, Marton.”
Hunterville residents are being asked to conserve water as there is no power at the rural water scheme, Rangitīkei District Council said.
Flooding at the rear of Marton New World. Photo / Te Kakenga Kawiti-Bishara
State Highways in the area have been affected by flooding and slips.
SH2 REMUTAKA HILL - SLIP - 8:40AM Due to a slip, STOP/GO will soon be in place at a site east of the summit. Contractors and heavy machinery are en-route. ^CS pic.twitter.com/AjMVh260Hr
— Waka Kotahi NZTA Wellington (@WakaKotahiWgtn) May 20, 2023
State Highway 1 at Mangaweka has been blocked by a slip, while around lunchtime State Highway 3 reopened between Warrengate Rd and Wikitoria Rd to northbound traffic only.
Southbound traffic can detour via Warrengate Rd, No 2 Line/Portal St, left on to SH4 then back onto SH3.
SH3 is closed between Bulls and Lake Alice but Waka Kotahi says emergency services are directing traffic at the Alice Lake closure.
Motorists on these roads should expect significant delays.
At 10.55am Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency said State Highway 1 was now closed between Bulls and Calico Line.
“Detour routes are currently inaccessible. Please delay your travels in the area.”
State Highway 4 Anzac Parade in Whanganui is closed near Georgetti Rd due to a slip. Motorists should follow the directions of contractors on site.
Central District Police say they are responding to a number of weather-related callouts on Sunday morning and are warning motorists to slow down.
“A number of vehicles have lost traction in floodwater on State Highway 1 at Taihape and slips continue to be reported across the district.
“Police have been alerted to several minor crashes, and motorists are warned to drive to the conditions, especially in areas vulnerable to slips and surface flooding.”
People should avoid travel if possible, police said.
Most regions of the North Island found themselves under heavy wind warnings yesterday, with parts of the central and west of the island placed under heavy rain warnings.
Anzac Parade State Highway 4 in Whanganui is closed between Georgetti Rd and Mt View Rd due to a fallen tree. Photo / Finn Williams
Horizons Regional Council emergency operations centre controller Dr Jon Roygard said staff had been monitoring the situation throughout the weekend, with multiple waterways rising as rain fell.
“We operated the Makino floodgates at 2am on Sunday, closing them to divert water away from the Feilding township. The gates were reopened later in the morning but were shut again just before 9am as the Makino Stream rose again.
“We are aware of flooding overnight in Marton and Whanganui, which resulted in localised evacuations, road closures, and landslips, and are in contact with territorial authorities in those areas.”
There were power outages across the region, especially in the Marton area, with work under way to restore power.
“Rangitīkei District Council have a few people and a cat at a Civil Defence Centre in Marton and are establishing another centre in Bulls. People who were evacuated in Whanganui have been provided accommodation, and many have been able to return home on Sunday morning.”
Other parts of the region, including Tararua, Pōhangina and the lower Manawatū River area, had coped with the rainfall and the council did not anticipate having to operate the Moutoa floodgates.
“The weather and tide has pushed water into the carpark at the Manawatū Marine Boating Club at Foxton Beach. Staff will monitor the situation and assess if the flood barrier needs to be deployed.”
Roygard said upcoming rain was not forecast to be heavy, but it would be steady and fall on already saturated catchments.
“Staff are installing the flood barrier at Hoihere Rd near Feilding as a precautionary measure for that section of the Ōroua River.
“The Turakina River is expected to rise, but current forecasts indicate it will stay within its channel. However, there is concern the Koitiata community may be isolated.
“While the Tutaenui Stream near Bulls and Marton has peaked and is falling, we continue to monitor the situation there and across the rest of the region and will respond as needed.”
Okoia resident Natalie Vartha woke up at midnight to find her carpet soaked and a river flowing outside her house.
“We were outside opening gates and knocking boards off the fences to allow the water to flow through,” she said. “It was taller than the top of my gumboots.”
“This morning I have at least a dozen towels on the floor, all of which are saturated. While water has come right through a room we were renovating.”
The newly flooded carpet in her house was only put down last Thursday, replacing the previous carpet damaged in the February floods.
Flooding in Whanganui’s Kowhai Park. Photo: Finn Williams.
This is the second time in three months that Vartha’s house has been flooded, after having lived in the house for nearly five years.
She said the two floods have impacted her mental health, as well as her husband and young daughter.
“Every time the rain happens, she worries her house is going to be flooded. Every time the rain happens, she hates being away from Mum and Dad because it scares her.”
According to MetService, an average 60-70mm worth of rain fell across the Manawatu-Whanganui region between 5pm last night and 7am this morning.
The highest recorded rainfall was 73mm in Kauangaroa - east of Whanganui.
Margaret Marshall, who lives in Turoa Rd in Whanganui East, said she found out about the flooding on her street last night when she went to take her dogs outside but they wouldn’t leave her home’s deck.
“It was raining, it didn’t seem to be raining very hard, but I went out to go out with them, put a coat on and took the torch out and the whole of the place was flooded … the whole around my house was flooded,” she said.
A stream at the top of the road had flooded due to water not being able to get through a culvert under the road.
“I don’t know whether it was blocked or what was happening, but it was a huge amount of water.”
She called Civil Defence who helped get the dogs to higher ground, though she elected to not evacuate.
“I’m waiting for a hip replacement, so I didn’t want to go out in case I lost my footing,” she said.
The water never made it into her house but she had yet to investigate if it had got under the house or into the garage.
She said a similar incident happened in 2021 when the stream flooded but before then the last time it had was just after she and her husband moved onto the street in the 1970s.
“We’d only just shifted in after the house was built and we had a flood just like it.”
A stopbank was put in upstream after that incident and she thought there may be some issues with it currently.
“I’m wondering if there’s something being blocked up there where the stopbank was because something’s changed, we shouldn’t be getting stuff like this.
“We went from 1976 till now not having any problems with water flow, now all of a sudden we have.”
But the weather should start to improve from today.
MetService Meteorologist Dan Corrigan said rain in Manawatu will ease into showers today and tomorrow, but nicer weather will emerge by Tuesday and Wednesday.
Meanwhile, the South Island will have occasional rain with some nice spells depending on the location.
“Classic Autumn weather where you get the horrible weather and then the nice weather and the horrible weather again,” said Bakker.
“A mixed bag.”
The Auckland region saw some of the country’s strongest wind gusts - and at times persistent rainfall - which for a while impacted badly on its motorway system.
MetService recorded gusts of 50-knot wind gusts - nearly 90 kilometres an hour - at around 2 pm yesterday that forced Waka Kotahi to initially close lanes and then temporarily close the Harbour Bridge.
The bridge ended up being closed several times during the day and into the evening due to the winds.
The restrictions caused a massive build-up of traffic on the Southern Motorway heading north, with bumper-to-bumper traffic stretching from Sylvia Park Mall all the way to the Harbour Bridge.
— Waka Kotahi NZTA Auckland & Northland (@WakaKotahiAkNth) May 20, 2023
Waka Kotahi asked residents to use the alternative SH16/SH18 Western Ring Route, before the bridge was opened again this evening. Buses on the routes affected were being told to pull over and wait
Due to wind gusts up to 91 km/h, the Auckland Harbour Bridge was closed temporarily and bus on routes affected were told to pull over and wait. The Bridge is now open again and buses will be resuming their routes.
— Auckland Transport Travel Alerts (@AT_TravelAlerts) May 20, 2023
Sixty knot - or 110 kilometres an hour - wind gusts were recorded out in Auckland’s Harbour.
Hauraki Gulf Weather tweeted the weather system had produced a wind gust at Manukau Heads of 143km/h or 77 knots.
The buffeting winds and showers were brought by a moisture-laden, intense low-pressure system rushing over the country from the Tasman Sea since Thursday.
The danger of the powerful gusts is elevated by wet soil from recent deluges, the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (Niwa) said.
🍃 Strong winds are beginning to be reported from our weather stations in the upper North Island, with gusts of 90 km/h recorded in Auckland.
