South Island licks its wounds after Gita
Parts of the South Island have been left with a major clean-up, isolated communities and stories of near misses after this week’s visit by ex-Cyclone Gita.
Golden Bay remains cut off after the storm’s hefty rainfall triggered 16 slips and washed away parts of Takaka Hill Rd (State Highway 60) overnight on Tuesday. Richard Kirby, of the Tasman District Council, said the isolation would last ‘‘quite a few days’’ until the road reopened.
Barges are taking food and other supplies, plus milk and fuel tankers, to the bay and medical supplies have been delivered. Fuel is being rationed at a rate of $30 worth per vehicle per day.
Takaka Fresh Choice supermarket owner Crowther Reynish said there had been ‘‘a lot of panic’’ since the hill closed, with customers rushing to stock up on essentials. Some people have left the region by boat and others queued at the Takaka information centre yesterday looking at travel options.
One is a vehicle barge taking passengers and cars on a five-hour trip to Kaiteriteri. Private airline Golden Bay Air said it had a waitlist of over 100 and long queues for flights out.
On the eastern side of the hill, Brunna Lee and her children just got out safely before the storm brought a slip down behind their Kaiteriteri-Sandy Bay Rd home.
Lee said her driveway was ‘‘like a river’’ with water and debris crashing down. She called 111, but emergency services could not reach them.
With neighbour Tim Wraight and her three children and dog, Lee walked through floodwater to nearby Marahau. She was forced to swim across a ditch holding her 4-year-old. Lee said she went into ‘‘full survival mode’’. ‘‘I’ve never been so scared in my life.’’
Several other houses were affected by slips, with one ‘‘completely ruined’’ and a collapsed bedroom wall in Wraight’s own house, Lee said.
Slips triggered by 200 millimetres of rain have also further damaged the fragile State Highway 1 around Kaiko¯ ura, and shingle slips have inundated coastal homes south of the town.
In Mid-Canterbury near Mt Hutt and the upper Rakaia River, eight farms remain cut off after rain triggered a river of shingle.
The shingle landslide blocked Double Hill Run Rd, which services nearby farms.
Farmer Donna Field, of Cleardale Station, said the phenomenon had happened before, but had never been as bad.
As of yesterday, the Earthquake Commission had received 35 claims for damage from ex-Cyclone Gita, and 94 for ex-Cylone Fehi three weeks ago.