Momona under water today?

Press, 7 June 1980, Page 1

Momona under water today?

PA Dunedin The full extent of flooding on the West Taieri Plain will not be reached until today, when at least 50 sq km, probably including Momona Airport, are expected by authorities to be under water. Yesterday afternoon, the airport was closed for all but. emergency civil defence purposes, and the airport. staff were evacuated from the area. The airport lies in the middle of the flooded area and road access was restricted to emergency personnel. Roads throughout Otago were still in chaos last evening, with seven State highways closed in several places.

The 1400 evacuees from the West Taieri Plain were still unable to get to their homes and it may. be some days before all of them are able to return home. . In southern Maniototo, floodwater was at its highest level in memory and the town of Kokonga was evacuated, but in Central Otago only relatively minor problems were being experienced. In North Otago more widespread flood damage occurred yesterday after a brief improvement. The state of emergency at Balclutha was lifted early 'in the afternoon after 16 hours. The Clydevale area was still flooded late in the

afternoon and a .number of roads are still blocked. In West Otago floodwaters receded during the day. At Kelso the Wrightson-NMA store returned to business and some residents returned to their homes. In Dunedin a few more slips occurred yesterday, and some existing slips continued to move, but generally it was “clean-up” day for residents and city council workers alike. Although floodwaters began to ease in some parts of Otago yesterday, in others the volume of water lying on the land increased, and some serious new problems began to emerge. One of the most urgent was the shifting,

milking and feeding of the hundreds of dairy cows from flooded farms on the plain. About 700 milking cows were gathered on the flood-free highway at Henley. Stock losses are expected to be serious.. , The worst fears of local authorities were realised during the morning when a breach occurred in a stopbank beside the. Waipori River, pouring huge volumes of water out over the plain. Several other breaches occurred during the day, and some could not be contained. From south of Mosgiel

to Lake Waihola, and from . State Highway 1 to the ■foothills, the plain is a mass' of floodwater, broken only by the occasional high point in a road, and by the pattern of shelter belts. Some fences are still visible, and almost every, farmhouse,. especially further to the south, is surrpunded by water. Many ■ homes have been entered by the flood.

Remarkably, no-one has been seriously injured nor have any deaths occurred as a result of the emergency, although there have been many narrow escapes. There were many rescues of stranded people during the day, and two emergency medical flights brought sick people to Dunedin’s medical facilities from country areas. Dunedin was still cut off, north, west and south, by water across roads, or by bridge damage. In many areas water supplies to residents have been polluted or water intakes washed away and supplies of milk have been stopped. A check at 3.30 p.m. showed the Taieri River had dropped 190 cm from the previous day’s level at Outrank It stopped raining, apart from the occasional light shower, during the morning in Dunedin and on the Taieri' Plains, and in the 48-hour period to 9 a.m. yesterday, 150.6 mm had been recorded in the city. No mail entered or left Dunedin yesterday. One train reached its destination on Thursday evening — the first to reach Dunedin for two days. The combined pas-senger-freight left Oamaru at 4 p.m. and after stops at Palmerston and Waikouaiti arrived at the Dunedin Railway Station shortly after 7.30 p.m. Railway officials expect tomorrow’s Southerner to run from Dunedin to Christchurch, if buses can bring passengers from south of the city to meet the train. Heavy rain sweeping ocross South Canterbury yesterday confined itself to the back country and raised temporary flooding fears. However, by late last evening the danger had passed, and these were several hours with calm skies. Earlier in the day, water flowed from the northern foothills towards the Waitaki River, cutting the main road at Ikawai and disrupting travel to Kurow. By nightfall, the highflowing Waitaki was carrying 18,000 cusecs of water and farmers in the lower Waitaki Valley were warned to move stock from the vicinity of the river.