Weather causes washout
If you were travelling down Tokoroa’s Key Rd on Saturday you could have been forgiven for thinking you’d stumbled upon the set of a Hollywood natural disaster movie.
That’s because a substantial section of the road had been washed away due to the wet and wild weather.
South Waikato District Council roading manager Trevor Mein said the reason the road fell away was from a combination of heavy rain and debris along a nearby river.
‘‘The rain washed debris into the culvert, blocking it. Once the culvert became blocked the water pressure built and the road gave way,’’ he said.
Mein said the road was not unsound before the incident and thankfully no one was injured.
‘‘Weather events create issues like this from time to time. All roads are monitored and maintained on an annual schedule,’’ he said.
‘‘The council’s road monitoring and maintenance programme is ongoing and normal procedure is followed.’’
He said the council was working to repair the road which is hoped to be opened again early next week.
‘‘The work is weather dependant. Winter is not the best time of year for roading works unfortunately,’’ he said.
‘‘We will install a culvert and fix the road to get the road open and make it safe. In the coming months there will be ongoing assessment and a permanent fix will be done in summer. ‘‘
‘‘Weather events create issues like this from time to time.’’ Trevor Mein