Eyre River surges back to life
A young family was there to capture the moment a historically dry Canterbury river surged to life.
Sarah McCall and her family decided to check out the Eyre River near their Kaiapoi home after Cyclone Cook dumped more than 60 millimetres of rain across the region before Easter, causing surface flooding and heavy river flows.
‘‘We drove across the South Eyre Rd bridge and the water was raging underneath it, so we thought we would drive further down the river to see if it was flowing,’’ McCall said.
When they got to Harrs Rd, the Eyre riverbed was dry, but within minutes it was clear something was happening.
‘‘My 10-year-old son Quinn said, ‘hey, look at the waterfall coming towards us’.’’
A water surge was making its way down the riverbed in the distance, pushing aside debris and plants, McCall said. ‘‘It sounded like a fast river, a river in flood.’’
In McCall’s three-minute video, the usually dry bed is consumed by floodwaters as her children, including 6-year-old Ruby, dance about excitedly.
‘‘I don’t know how it’s doing that; I think someone’s filling it up,’’ Ruby could be heard saying.
McCall said after a few minutes, the flow was strong across the gravel road. ‘‘No vehicles could drive over it afterwards, it was completely washed out.’’
A Fish & Game spokesman said the Eyre River hardly ever carried surface water, but would flood every few years during heavy rain events. ‘‘But for someone to actually capture it on video, that is pretty amazing,’’ he said.
The Eyre River has since dried out again.
Many Canterbury rivers surged after Cyclone Cook. Environment Canterbury river flow statistics show the Selwyn River at Coes Ford jumped from 0.2 metres per second to 12.8 metres per second within a few hours on April 15.