The weather is finally expected to gradually improve across the country, after a week in which the Nelson-Tasman region experienced its worst flooding in almost 150 years.
A state of emergency remains in place for the region, after the top of the South Island was battered by a barrage of downpours.
Communities met on Saturday to discuss the recovery, with about 50 people attending a meeting at Riwaka Memorial Hall.
Civil Defence controller Rob Smith said it was the biggest flood since 1877, when a hole was put in a rock up near Ngātīmoti after the floods.
This week’s deluge was up to a plaque placed there.
Civil Defence urged people to take care when assessing their properties for flood damage. Crews were out checking houses across the region, with 42 staff on the ground around Brooklyn and Wakefield to build a picture of what they needed.
Emergency Management Minister Mark Mitchell said he would soon travel to the Nelson Tasman region to assess damage after two bouts of heavy rain in a week. (Source: 1News)
Close to 650 properties had already been assessed, with 90 of them provided with information to help them reach out for support.
One property was red-stickered and another 13 were yellow-stickered, after floodwaters swept through them.
Full recovery costs would take time to work out, but they would need government support to help with the years-long clean-up, Smith said.
“A lot of the landowners in the Motueka particularly went through the 1983 flood, so they know the time that took to recover from,” he said. “That was a big valley floor flood.
“This was half a metre to a metre higher. This was a much bigger flood.”
Parts of the Nelson Tasman cycle track will need to be rebuilt from scratch. (Source: Nelson Tasman Cycle Trails Trust). (Source: Supplied)
The horticulture and agriculture industries were hit hard, with floodwaters tearing through properties, prime pasture and farmland, and leaving silt, muck and debris behind.
A Civil Defence community meeting was also held in Ngātīmoti, next to the Motueka river, which was another of the worst impacted regions.
How silt could be disposed of, as well as whom to contact about restoring driveway access, and whether the drinking water had been contaminated by the flood, were all questions raised by the attendees, about 60 in number.
Ngātīmoti resident Patrick Shortley – who was at the meeting – told RNZ people in the Motueka valley saw extraordinarily high levels of water.
“The loss of infrastructure obviously is significant, but I feel for the people whose homes have been inundated,” he said.
Shortley said that while the impact of the flooding had bordered on catastrophic for some residents, community members looked out for each other, and he was confident the region would recover.
Around the motu
Elsewhere, much of the North Island has been wet and wild, with localised downpours falling at rates nearing 20mm/hr in parts throughout the beginning of the weekend.
There was a moderate risk of thunderstorms Saturday afternoon over Northland, eastern Bay of Plenty and Gisborne/Tairāwhiti – with the potential for hail up to a centimetre in diameter over Gisborne later in the day.
Flooded communities remain cut off tonight, as the full extent of the clean-up becomes clearer across the top of the South Island. (Source: 1News)
There were slips in many regions, with roads temporarily blocked in Wellington. Marlborough and Taranaki.
Even the rail network was impacted, as a slip near Okahukura, just north of Taumarunui, closed part of the North Island’s Main Trunk Line on Saturday.
But now, things look to be clearing up for the better.
Meteorologist Michael Pawley said a ridge of high pressure, working its way up the South Island, would lead to more stable weather in that part of the country following last week’s severe weather.
The change should reach much of the North Island by Monday morning, he said.
Widespread flooding is threatening homes, triggering slips and shutting major highways. (Source: 1News)
Residents in Hawke’s Bay’s Wairoa District – which saw its own heavy flooding last year – will have to hold out a little longer for sunshine, even though its orange heavy rain warning has been lifted.
The area was expected to receive up to 80mm of rain between Saturday afternoon and early Sunday morning.
MetService lifted the warning just after 8pm Saturday night.
Meteorologist Devlin Lynden said there should be fine spells later in the week, mixed with the odd shower, but that drizzly conditions were expected to continue today.
rnz.co.nz
