Floods follow declaration of Coast drought
Less than 24 hours after parched West Coast grounds reached drought level, a dozen people were evacuated from their homes as heavy downpours lashed the region.
The deluge may have not broken the official drought declaration, which will remain in place for six months, but rivers and creeks around Greymouth reached brimming point with more showers to come. Heavy rain warnings would remain in place for Buller and Westland.
Downpours of up to 40 millimetres per hour were expected to batter the region, and residents could expect drizzly showers for at least the next 10 days.
Grey District Mayor Tony Kokshoorn said some residents were evacuated from their flooded Greymouth homes yesterday morning, with Civil Defence meetings held in the early afternoon. Several roads were badly affected by flooding, making much of the town centre inaccessible for a short time.
Water had mostly drained from inside the flooded properties as the rain subsided about midday yesterday, but there were concerns heavy rain forecast would ‘‘exacerbate the problems’’, Kokshoorn said.
‘‘The rivers and creeks are extremely high and any more could tip them over.’’
An emergency centre was set up at the Westland Recreation Centre on Greymouth’s High St, but most people stayed with friends and family, Kokshoorn said.
For the second year in a row, the Kumara Racing Club abandoned its Saturday meeting due to the poor ground conditions.
MetService forecaster Cameron Coutts said 40mm of rain drenched Hokitika in the hour between 1pm and 2pm yesterday, and 92.4mm fell within six hours.
More than 60mm pounded Greymouth between 9am and 11am, adding to the 148mm that fell in the 24 hours to 12pm. The Grey River had reached 31⁄2 metres at Dobson, the first level alarm.
‘‘We’ve gone from one extreme to another in 24 hours.’’
The downpours come one day after drought was officially declared in the Buller and Grey districts because of an unusually dry summer so far.
A Ministry for Primary Industries spokeswoman said while the rain was ‘‘welcome’’, droughts were ‘‘slow to build and slow to recover from’’.
‘‘The recent rainfall is excellent news. The rain that has fallen will support pasture growth, and will take two to three weeks before this translates into feed for animals.’’
A statement from the Grey District Council said a water leak affected properties in the Karoro, South Beach and Paroa areas.
‘‘We’re having trouble locating the leak due to the other water around but are aware of the issue and doing what we can to fix it.’’
A significant amount of rain had also fallen across Canterbury on Thursday, providing relief to farmers battling dry land, but causing headaches for some.
Surface flooding affected streets in Christchurch and the roof of a popular central-city establishment was leaking extensively.
Cathedral Junction has long had issues with a leaky roof, with buckets often seen dotted around the arcade. On Thursday morning, more than 20 buckets were placed under drips.
Christchurch Transport Operations Centre spokeswoman Janine Porter said motorists needed to take extra care driving in flooded areas.
The left turn bay and left straight lane on Pages Rd and Dyers Rd heading eastbound had been hit with surface flooding, as was Hornby’s Shands Rd heading southbound towards Amyes Rd.