The big rain hits Taranaki
Hours of constant rain yesterday morning caused surface flooding and traffic chaos around Taranaki.
Drivers and parents making school drop-offs had to contend with blocked roads, while some New Plymouth residents had to have water pumped out from inside their houses and garages.
About 80 millimetres of rain fell in five hours in central New Plymouth, which overwhelmed the city’s water network, the New Plymouth District Council (NPDC) said. Inglewood was also affected by the downpour, but Waitara and Bell Block largely escaped.
In the 24 hours to 3.30pm, North Egmont Visitor Centre had 195.5 millimetres of rain, Taranaki Regional Council (TRC) data said.
In the same period, New Plymouth’s Brooklands Zoo had 109mm of rain, Stratford was soaked by 103mm, Tawhiti at Whareroa, near Ha¯wera, had
80.5mm, and Cape Egmont
86.4mm. The deluge, which began in the early hours, also caused a slip to partially block State Highway 3, south of Ha¯wera, about
8am.
New Plymouth fire brigades were called to a steady stream of jobs around the city from about
7.20am.
At St Joseph’s Primary School, New Plymouth, principal Mike Dowd rolled up his trousers and helped ferry students across a flooded Calvert Rd.
The fields between his school and the neighbouring Devon Intermediate were heavily flooded after the nearby Mangaotuku Stream burst its banks.
With more rain on the way, St Joseph’s staff messaged parents about midday, asking those who could to collect their children early.
The end of Rainsford St, where it joins Moulton St, was completely cut off by flooding from the Mangaotuku Stream.
A resident said the water had been rising since 9am and his garage was flooded.
‘‘I thought, ‘This is a bit of a bugger,’’’ he said.
However, he said no water got inside the house, which he has owned for about two years.
Senior station officer Scott Hetherington, of the New Plymouth West Volunteer Brigade, said they were called to the area about 10.30am.
‘‘There are two houses flooded along here. They are pumping the water out.’’
While it was his brigade’s first call-out, he understood the town brigade had been busy since
7.20am.
There was also heavy surface flooding reported around Francis Douglas Memorial College on Tukapa St and at the intersection of Mangorei Rd and Turakina St.
Robert O’Donnell, who lives at the intersection of Clawton and Tavistock streets in Westown, feared he would lose all of his grandmother’s furniture, which he is storing underneath the house. The waters began rising between 8.30am and 9am, he said.
‘‘It was right up to our ankles. It rose really quickly.’’
He was grateful that he had stored the furniture on top of pallets.
‘‘If we had not we would have lost everything.
‘‘It’s heartbreaking to watch the floodwaters rise and not be able to do anything.’’
New Plymouth senior station officer Keith Murphy said fire crews had wet socks and muddy feet, but it was all part of the wild weather.
‘‘We’ve been getting pretty busted,’’ Murphy said.
The crew had been called out to about 10 to 15 weather-related incidents by midday, he added.
‘‘We’re expecting it to keep going.’’
Murphy said the callouts were mostly to water getting into buildings, being caused by poorly maintained roofs or water coming down from blocked drains.
The Nga¯motu beach pump station had overflowed, as had the stations at Te Henui and Huatoki.
All Waitara and Inglewood wastewater was going storage, the council said.
‘‘Our historic wastewater treatment plant is in overdrive, pumping around 1300 litres a second and operating to its maximum capacity, but coping.’’
In an update at 4.15pm, NPDC said sewerage and flooding at various pump stations were under control, but there were public warnings in place from Ngamotu Beach through to Bell Block beach, warning people not to swim or eat kai from those areas.
‘‘We have crews on the ground to tidy up any rain-related debris or drainage issues.
‘‘We’ll continue to keep a close eye on the situation overnight, and we have people on standby in into case we experience further extreme rainfall,’’ said a statement attributed to NPDC spokesperson Jacqueline Baker.
The Huatoki Plaza by the river and the Puke Ariki underpass in central New Plymouth were closed due to the river rising and these closures will be reevaluated at 8am today.
However, as some mopped up the mess, others took the opportunity to enjoy the watery wonderland.
At Waitara’s Clifton Park, teenagers were having fun towing each other on a boogie board into a large puddle of water behind a motor scooter.
‘‘It looked like fun,’’ Trae Schuler, 16, said after he wiped out to the cheers and delight of his friends.
TRC director environment quality Gary Bedford said in a written statement that most of the rain had passed across north Taranaki by 10am.
‘‘River levels were coming off low flows to begin with, and while they are now well up in north Taranaki, they are not near flooding levels and appear to be close to their peak anticipated flows,’’ he said yesterday.
‘‘Rivers in the eastern and southern hill country will still be rising for some time later today, but are not expected to reach levels of concern.’’
A police media spokeswoman said the slip had blocked the northbound lane of the Tangahoe Bridge, Mokoia, on SH3.
She said officers had been alerted, as well as the South Taranaki District Council.
Firefighters helped remove water and were at the scene for about half an hour.
A substantial road washout also occurred on Waitotara Valley Rd, about 29km up the Valley Rd and just before Puau Rd.
Access was completely cut and the road impassable, and the South Taranaki District Council closed the Waitotara Valley Rd at the State Highway 3 intersection.
Yesterday, MetService had also issued warnings of severe thunderstorms for Auckland, Coromandel Peninsula, Waikato, Waitomo, Taumarunui, Bay of Plenty, Rotorua, Taupo¯, Hawke’s Bay, and Taihape.