Rain forces school camp evacuation

More than 200 Queenstown students and teachers are being evacuated from a school camp because of rising river levels.

Wakatipu High School principal Steve Hall said 180 Year 10 students attending the annual Branches Camp would be driven out by 4WD vehicles today, while 40 students and six teachers would be flown out by helicopter.

The students were on day seven of a 12-day camp based at a farm at the head of the Shotover River.

A call went out yesterday asking for transport to bring the students out due to rising river levels and the poor weather forecast.

The vehicles would have to travel along Skippers Canyon Rd – considered one of New Zealand’s most dangerous road – to fetch most the students. Two helicopters would land at Sixteen Mile Hut to fly out the remainder of the group.

‘‘With the rain we have had the last few days the rivers are very, very high. We could not run our programme effectively,’’ Hall said. Activities involved kayaking, rafting and tramps that involved river crossings, he said.

‘‘We still have tonnes of food and everyone is safe and warm.’’

The road’s condition would be checked in the morning, and a police vehicle would travel with the group.

Meanwhile, Queenstown, Wanaka and surrounding Central Otago areas are sandbagging to prepare for flooding as heavy rain batters the lower South Island.

MetService is forecasting large downpours throughout Otago for the rest of the week, with rainfall expected to exceed warning criteria tomorrow.

Precautionary flood measures were put in place for lakes Wanaka and Wakatipu earlier, but efforts are being stepped up.

Queenstown Lakes District Council said after reviewing predicted lake levels and weather patterns, 25 kilograms of sandbags and supplies of sand would be deployed to Glenorchy, Kingston and three locations in central Queenstown. A large crew of volunteers were pitching in around Wanaka to place sandbags around low-lying businesses yesterday.

John Shea’s new fish ’n’ chip shop, The Catch Wanaka, is in the line of the water.

"We just started up this new fish and chip shop – it’s four days old – and we thought just to have the freshest product we may as well have the fish just swimming in,’’ Shea said.

‘‘We’re probably going to get wet feet . . . we’ve got everybody out, the community, anyone who cares is here.’’