Two years of ‘havoc’

Tararua is dealing with an unprecedented level of emergency road works and repairs, as storm after storm pounds the district and workers can’t keep up with the damage.

Roads were again torn up and scarred in early September storms, with more than 250 slips and more than 100 dropouts.

‘‘Our thoughts are with the residents of Akitio, Pongaroa and Weber, who have endured a real hammering,’’ mayor Tracey Collis said. ‘‘The wet and cold weather [has been] causing havoc to not only their roads, but their work and everyday lives.’’

Tararua Alliance roading manager Chris Chapman said the storm that hit Tararua in the first week of September was the latest in a two-year run of punishing weather.

The council had already started this financial year with a $5.3 million repair bill from the previous year – the second largest storm-damage repair bill for a single financial year in the district’s history.

Tararua was hit by a massive snowstorm in July, 2017, only two months after another big storm. An estimate of how much the latest storm repair will add to the cost was expected by next week.

Chapman said road crews had every slip cleared up, with only a few of the more difficult dropouts left to go when the September storm hit and set works back to square one.

‘‘It’s frustrating ... but we’ll get back on top of it again.’’

Ben Morrison, who lives on Route 52 near Weber, said rural Tararua people had become used to driving cautiously while maneuvering around slips and damaged roads.

‘‘It’s just ongoing slips. It’s quite a nuisance. There’s quite a lot of damage out here and on the back roads, [but] it’s just one of those things.’’

Morrision said her family usually took the long way around to drop the kids off at Weber School on roads more likely to be cleared.

Pongaroa woman Tracey King said she’d recently ditched the family car for a second 4WD to cope with the damaged roads.

‘‘You’re wasting your time having a car out here. You can’t be sure of getting around in it anymore.’’