West Coast homes spared but rain-fuelled slips close roads
Evacuated Westport residents sent up a ‘‘great big cheer’’ when they were told they could return to their undamaged homes.
More than 650 properties were evacuated after a mandatory order on Friday morning when officials warned that the town could be hit by serious flooding.
It was initially feared the weather event could be worse than flooding just over six months ago, which saw nearly 2000 of the town’s 4200 residents evacuated. It also left 70 homes red-stickered, and 393 yellow-stickered.
Evacuated resident Harri Jensen said the community was relieved yesterday morning to find no houses were inundated with water: ‘‘I woke up in bed at [the evacuation centre] and the lady said it hadn’t been flooded, and we could all go home, and there was just a great big cheer.’’
Her Snodgrass Rd home where she lives with her partner Marcus Shenker was unscathed, but is still being repaired from damage in the July 2021 flood.
A couple and their two children were rescued by helicopter from their farm north of Westport after a large slip near Lake Rochfort. Fearing the Lake Rochfort dam had burst, they called for help and sat in a tractor waiting for rescue. In total, 15 people were airlifted from Powerhouse Road after the swollen Christmas Creek cut off road access.
State Highway 67 between
Westport and Mohikinui remained closed after a large slip on Thursday. State Highway 6 was closed between Inangahua and Westport after a slip yesterday morning. The heavy rain moved north yesterday, causing slips and damaging a bridge, cutting off two Marlborough Sounds bays.
A heavy rain warning was issued for northwest Marlborough on Friday, and SH6 was closed because of flooding between Hira to Rai Valley. Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency said yesterday the highway would remain closed at least until today.
A Marlborough District Council spokesperson said an abutment at Harvey Bay Bridge had been badly damaged, which meant the Penzance Bay community was cut off. There was also a large slip blocking access to Duncan Bay.
Heavy rain warnings were in place for Ka¯ piti-Horowhenua and Wellington until 4am today and were expected to be in place for Taranaki until noon today.