Floods force hundreds from homes Blenheim, Takaka emergency

Press, 11 July 1983, Page 1

Floods force hundreds from homes Blenheim, Takaka emergency

Staff reporters

Torrential rain and fierce winds during the week-end caused widespread flooding and road and bridge damage in Marlborough, Nelson, and Golden Bay.

The civil emergency imposed in flooded areas of Marlborough will be reviewed at 9 a.m. this morning. About 280 people had to be moved from the flooded Wairau Plains yesterday, as the Wairau River rose six metres above its normal level. The speed with which the river rose caught many by surprise. Thirty-one people in Tuamarina were rescued by helicopter and boats, 100 had to move from their homes in Renwick, west of Blenheim, and 150 from Spring Creek. The secretary of the Earthquake and War Damages Commission, Mr John Pritchard, was in Blenheim, to assess the damage claims expected. The chief engineer of the Marlborough Catchment Board, Mr Peter Thomson, said that such a flood was likely to occur only once every 500 years. Flood waters began receding yesterday afternoon. However, late last evening, more than 50 men were battling to strengthen a section of the Wairau River stopbank near Rapaura, which threatened to cave in. Water had spilled over the bank at the height of the flood, but it was not until the river level began falling that the. cave-in was noticed. A breach at that point would have unleashed a torrent of water on to low-lying areas downstream, including Spring Creek. The men, some of whom had been hard at work since 8 a.m., used wire gates lashed together in an attempt to reinforce the bank. State highway 1 between Blenheim and Picton was closed after the northern approach to the Wairau River bridge, south of Tuamarina, was washed out. An engineering officer with the Ministry of Works in Blenheim, Mr Russell Hopkins, said that the extent of the damage to the approach would not be known until the river level dropped. There was no sign of structural damage to the bridge, some of which was under water. Further upstream, flooding on the northern approach to the Wairau Bridge on State highway 6 had closed the road between Renwick and Okaramio. State highway 63 between Renwick and Lake Rotoiti was closed at the damaged Boundary Creek Bridge. Farmers in the Wairau Valley reported considerable flooding on the road. Traffic could still reach Picton from Havelock on Queen Charlotte Drive. The Blenheim Civil Defence centre received many offers of temporary accommodation, although few were taken up as people moved in with friends and relatives in the town. In Golden Bay, residents were moved from their

homes in Takaka on Saturday night as one metre-deep floodwaters from the Takaka River raced down the main street. Mr Gerald Bensemann, the deputy controller of the Takaka Civil Defence organisation, said the water was about 30cm deeper in the main street than during the town’s previous worst flood in 1967. After a meeting late yesterday afternoon it was decided to maintain the state of emergency in the Golden Bay area,' said Mr Bensemann. There were still big problems, he said. The main road over Takaka Hill remained unusable after several large slips blocked the road. Closer to Takaka, a washout at Payne’s Ford bridge and another on the Takaka East Road had all but completed the district’s isolation. Nobody was worse off than those residents round Kotinga, west Takaka. They had no telephone, no power, and no road access. Outside Takaka, at Waitapu, floodwaters closed the road until late yesterday when it was opened for four-wheel-drive vehicles only. Most of the problems in the lower regions of Golden Bay resulted from the heavy rainfall in the Cobb catchment area. At the Cobb power house, 208 mm (a little more than Bin) of rain fell between 9 a.m. on Friday and 9 a.m. yesterday. The river, swollen by raging tributaries and’ spillover from the Cobb dam, broke its banks and inundated low-lying areas. There were similar problems for farmers in the Motueka Valley. The Motueka River rose with astonishing speed and swept over low-lying land on both sides of the valley. A little way past Pokororo only large vehicles were able to negotiate a stretch of some 300 metres where the river had crossed the road. It was still closed last evening. Kiwifruit and berry gardens in the lowland areas were inundated and damage to the young plants is likely to be considerable. Volunteers organised by the Motueka Civil Defence organisation filled sandbags and built stopbanks above the town. Some water did make its way into the borough and at the height of the flooding the main street at two points had to be negotiated with care. Roads — both main highways and lesser routes — were affected by flooding and slips in the Nelson area. SeniorTrafficSergeantLester Ramage reported at 4.30 p.m. yesterday that the Nelson-Murchison-Lewis Pass road was open; the Nelson to Havelock route was open; the coastal road to Motueka through Ruby Bay was open (previously closed by slips); and Queen Charlotte Drive (Havelock to Picton) was open. The Takaka Hill Road was still closed by slips. Other smaller roads

round Brightwater and Wakefield and into Pigeon Valley were still unusable. The road to the Cobb power house had also been closed by a slip. Scheduled flights in and out of Nelson Airport were delayed by the weather, but there were no cancellations. A big slip at Lyell on the West Coast closed State highway 6 between Murchison and Inangahua yesterday. It was not expected to be cleared until late today. In Canterbury, washouts between Avcka and Craigieburn closed the rail line between Christchurch and Arthur’s Pass, and one goods train was temporarily stranded by a small slip near Cass. State highway 73 through Arthur’s Pass was open last evening, although chains were essential. The road had been closed most of the week-end because of floods and snowfalls.

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