Rangitata flood risk ongoing

The Rangitata River area will remain highly vulnerable to any future weather events for months according to Environment Canterbury.

Repairs are under way to fix ‘‘ongoing flood outflows’’ from the river into neighbouring land, but the regional council has warned improvements will occur slowly.

ECan flood controller Chris Fauth said the flooding was an ‘‘extreme event that’s affected the West Coast and Canterbury and that will, undoubtedly, have impacted on the flood protection scheme works which will take time to be repaired’’.

Fauth confirmed major breakouts occurred at Ferry Rd upstream of Arundel township, at the south branch entry from the main river channel upstream of State Highway 1 (SH1), another upstream of SH1 but below the south branch river entry which breached the railway, crossed SH1 and travelled downstream along Rangitata Island Road.

‘‘The south branch channel overtopped in many places but, most significantly, upstream of the Rangitata Village, causing flooding. There were other breakouts onto farmland downstream of SH1 including at Dip Road.

‘‘Some of these breakouts have now been closed off by interim works in the river.

‘‘Works crews with heavy machinery, like diggers and bulldozers, are focused on reducing outflows at other locations particularly the overflows into the south branch and toward Rangitata Village. Bulldozers are also working above Arundel to improve the situation where the break-out occurred.’’

Fauth said the river had not changed to a new course as the south branch is its natural overflow channel so flows into that are expected.

‘‘Following the three high episodes of rain in the last week – a total of 860 millimetres – it now has a significant flow going through its south branch. The last time any flow went down the south branch was 1999, this was minor, and the last time a comparable flow to what is occurring now was in 1995.’’

He said while some breakouts have been closed off, others require more time.

He confirmed a priority was improving the situation for Rangitata village.

The floodwater flow in the south branch resulted in Timaru Civil Defence issuing an immediate evacuation call for an extended area early on Tuesday.

Timaru CD spokesman

Stephen Doran said changing river flows had necessitated the evacuation call.

He said people who had returned to their farms needed to leave or they may be cut off.

Rangitata Village resident Cor Bot was in the midst of cleaning up from one flood, but then was hit by another on Monday afternoon.

‘‘It started as a bit of a trickle at 3pm on Monday, but it became a deluge,’’ Bot said.

‘‘At parts of the driveway, the water was over 2m high. This is definitely the worst I’ve ever seen it. There was one event back in

2009, but that was a trickle compared to this.’’

While there was ‘‘a couple of inches’’ of water running through their property, it was enough to damage the carpets, gib board, laundry and other parts of the house.

‘‘It’s pretty exhausting, we haven’t had much sleep over the last couple of days,’’ Bot said,

Bot also warned rubberneckers away.

‘‘Unless you’re here on legitimate business, you’re causing more trouble than it’s worth,’’ he said.

Bot said he did not have any intention of leaving his property at this stage.

‘‘There’s not much we can do except wait for the river to drop.’’

While he expected a hefty insurance bill, he said he was relieved that the Arundel irrigation ponds did not breach.

‘‘If that had happened, it would have been an absolute nightmare.’’

‘‘But our main concern, right now, is for our animals. Our dogs, chickens and cat are safe, so that’s something.’’

Rangitata huts resident Jackie Manning said it was a ‘‘waiting game’’.

‘‘We’re all ready to evacuate as soon as the siren goes. Timaru District Council has told us to be on high alert,’’ Manning said.

‘‘There’s been a lot of misinformation out there, it’s all been very confusing.’’

So far, there had been no damage to Manning’s hut, or any of the others in the area.

‘‘However, we’re keeping an eye on things, and are in contact with the council and civil defence every two hours,’’ Manning said.

Fellow hut holder Jeremy Boulton said he was leaving anyway as he had a flight to Perth to catch today.