Waitotara washout
Residents stranded after a month’s rain fell in a day
Awash-out on Waitotara Valley Rd has left some residents stranded following two days of heavy rain in the region. More rain fell in Whanganui on Wednesday than in the entire month of November last year.
The washout, which took out a section of road, occurred about halfway up Waitotara Valley Rd at Orangimea.
The road, which is home to the small community of Ngamatapouri, is New Zealand’s longest no-exit road.
Juliet Larsen, who is a relief teacher at Ngamatapouri School, arrived at work yesterday morning to find it deserted.
“We can’t get the power back on until the road’s fixed,” Larsen said. “They’ll need a crane to do that, and obviously that needs to be able to come up the road.
“An engineer from Hawera came to check the road yesterday morning, and he said that they’d probably have to get a bailey bridge. That could be three to five days.”
Ngamatapouri School principal Heather Dallas said the school was closed yesterday due to concerns about safe road access for parents and it may also be shut today.
It was raining again in the valley on Thursday, Dallas said.
“Power has been off for Taumatatahi Rd since [Wednesday] so residents will be happy when the power board vehicle can access to repair.”
She said the South Taranaki District Council hoped to have a temporary detour through a paddock operational by the end of Friday.
It was planned to have the school operating as normal on Monday.
Almost 55 millimetres of rain fell in the city on Wednesday, with 7.4 millimetres of rain falling between 12am and 2pm on Thursday.
Wednesday’s deluge was more than the whole of last year’s November rainfall, which came in at 48 millimetres.
Metservice meteorologist Stephen Glassey said on Wednesday the weather in the area would gradually improve over the next few days and today would be “mostly dry” for Whanganui.
“There’s a chance of a shower on Friday night.
“Saturday is looking like a fine day, but another weather system is coming in on Sunday, which will bring some more rain.”
Meanwhile, police said a tree had come down on Anzac Pde near the intersection with Portal St about 10pm on Wednesday, temporarily blocking one lane of the road.
A slip was also reported on SH4 at Kakatahi near the intersection with Matthews Rd at 8am yesterday.
We can’t get the power back on until the road’s fixed. They’ll need a crane to do that, and obviously that needs to beable to come up the road. Juliet Larsen