Cleanup starts in the cold
THE weather calmed in parts of the Maniototo affected by flooding and heavy snow during the weekend, but residents are preparing for more of the same.
The area was hit by heavy rain which caused widespread flooding on Friday night, followed by a substantial amount of snow on Saturday, especially in the Ida Valley and around Naseby.
Yesterday afternoon 14 roads were still closed in the area.
Oturehua resident Ken Gillespie said he was ‘‘nearly washed away’’ with heavy rain on Friday night.
‘‘It was coming up to the bottom step. We’ve got about an inch [2.5cm] of water all through the shed.’’
It was worse than a memorable flood in 1987, he said.
‘‘It was not nice. We’ve got a lot of cleaning up to do. It flattened all the fences.’’
Some residents had water through their houses, and everyone was ready to evacuate, he said.
Kyeburn Diggings farmer David Crutchley, of Shortlands Station, said preparation was key during the weekend.
‘‘We knew there was a bad forecast on Friday night, so we rushed to Ranfurly to get supplies.’’
He transferred stock to handy paddocks so they could still be reached to be fed the next day, he said.
He was doing the same yesterday as the forecast predicted more snow.
Mr Crutchley had about 23cm of snow at his house and 36cm in the paddocks.
Ranfurly Deputy Chief Fire Officer David Millar said the flooding in the township itself was comparatively light.
The brigade had two callouts to assist people dealing with flooding on residential properties.
‘‘We just had to shift a bit of water for them. It was much worse in nearby areas.’’
Central Otago District Council roading manager Murray Hasler said the council was assessing the priorities of roads and bridges it needed to fix.
Some damages would require weeks to repair, but they were mostly on lowuse roads.
The Teviot Valley also experienced surface flooding on Saturday, but the only major damage was a slip on the track section of Craig Flat Rd.
jono.edwards@odt.co.nz