People flee flooding as rain eases
The main highway through the Coromandel has reopened after heavy rain flooded the highway forcing it to close for more than 24 hours.
NZ Transport Agency said State Highway 25 between Tairua and Whitianga through the Duck Creek area reopened at 2pm yesterday.
‘‘The water has subsided enough for the road to open but there is still some minor flooding so motorists should avoid the area if possible,’’ NZTA regional performance manager Karen Boyt said. ‘‘Care still needs to be taken around the Waikato and Coromandel as the cleanup from yesterday’s heavy rain continues.’’
Some people were forced to sleep in their cars after the highway was cut off.
On the other side of the range, people were also forced to sleep in their cars after rising flood waters trapped them in a Coromandel valley. The occupants of four cars were stuck in Kauaeranga Valley Rd, Thames, after heavy rain pounded the peninsula on Sunday afternoon. Fire crews tried to reach them but couldn’t get through, Senior Sergeant Dean Anderson said.
Water across a ford was too fast for anyone to cross, Department of Conservation ranger Keith Donald said. ‘‘They had spent the weekend doing the Pinnacles walk.’’
When the groups, two of which had younger children, walked out they found the ford too high and spent the night in their cars.
Donald said they were not upset and treated it as a part of the adventure.
‘‘It was good to see common sense prevail with nobody trying to cross the ford. They did exactly the right thing and were alive and well enough to head off home quite happily this morning.’’
Other motorists took refuge in their cars on the lot of Prescotts Garage after SH25 north was closed. Owner Bill Prescott said about 60 or 70 cars were at the service station when he left about 5.30pm on Sunday.
‘‘I walked around all those that had kids and told them basically to get out because they’re not going to get to Pauanui or Tairua before daylight in the morning.
‘‘You can’t drive on a flooded road because you can’t see the road. You don’t know where it goes. Your lights reflect off the dirty water and it all looks just one flat playing field, and the road disappears from underneath you. It’s highly dangerous.’’
Sergeant Tony Mumford, of Coromandel police, said there was still a lot of water over the roads across the Coromandel.
Pipes under the road up Kauaeranga Valley Rd could only take so much before water flooded the surface, he said.
On SH25 Kuaotunu west there were three large slips on the road, and one on the highway outside Whangamata.
The worst affected areas were between Whangamata and Whiritoa, and Hikuai to Tairua, Garry Towler, Thames Coromandel District Council area manager for Whangamata and Tairua/ Pauanui, said.
The culprits were two high tides that combined with more than 300mm of rain, Towler said.