Shutdown by covid, then weather
After one day back in business, a Coromandel farm park has been forced to close indefinitely due to flooding.
Whiti Farm Park, south of Whitianga, was met with an estimated 250mm downpour on Saturday night, hours after reopening its doors since the
Covid-19 lockdown.
More wild weather was expected for the upper North Island in the early hours of today but Saturday night’s deluge had already damaged fences, deposited silt throughout sheds, washed out bridges, and left one Scottish highland cow washed a kilometre downstream.
‘‘There was a lot of shock, then relief, then worry ... but we wouldn’t still be doing this after
20 years if we let something like this slow us down,’’ owner Ronnie James said.
Despite the optimism, the rain, which comes after a ‘‘catastrophic’’ drought within the district, has put a dampener on what would have been a grand reopening for the farm park.
James said they had been getting ‘‘everything looking sharp’’ in anticipation of recommencing. ‘‘We were going to open permanently as of yesterday, and now, if we’re lucky, we
won’t be opening until the next school holidays a month away. I’m not even sure we’ll be ready then because the weather impacts us a lot.’’
There are around 150 animals at the farm park on State Highway 25, and James estimated it cost more than $3000 a month to feed them all.
After 10 weeks of being closed due to the Covid-19 lockdown, the park’s first full day back in action on Saturday was met with excitement, she said. ‘‘We had a great day yesterday with lots of visitors, and although it was a little rainy in the morning, the sun came out and everyone had a great time.’’
James hoped to see everyone return when the ‘‘mess’’ of the farm park is all cleaned up.
Meanwhile, ThamesCoromandel District Council activated its Emergency Operations Centre following a downpour, which caused flooding and closed State Highway 25 between Hikuai and Whitianga overnight.
Civil Defence and emergency services were preparing for flooding, slips, gale force winds, road closures and power outages, council said. ‘‘The worst of this storm will be overnight, so it is essential everyone takes all precautions to mitigate what will at best be an uncomfortable night ahead’’ civil defence controller Garry Towler said yesterday.