Residents’ resilience put to test
The only road out of Lake Ō hau Village is cut off after a bridge was washed out in heavy rain, but one resident says being stranded is nothing on the previous natural disaster which wiped out half its buildings.
Barbara Mackay, a resident of more than 20 years, said the community worked together to evacuate the village during the wildfires which destroyed more than 40 homes and thousands of hectares of land around the area on October 4-5, 2020.
‘‘This (the bad weather) is nothing compared to the fires, we will just hunker down to see our way through. The water will drain away.’’
MacKay remembers the fires being ‘‘pretty traumatic’’ for herself and a lot of people in the village.
MacKay and her husband, Norman, owned one of the homes destroyed in the blaze, while the family dog, Milo, made headlines after running away during the emergency evacuation.
The MacKays were worried that Milo had perished in the blaze, but they learned from a firefighter, after their evacuation, that a dog matching Milo’s description had been spotted – but they could not get near it, and it ran away down a gully.
Milo and the MacKays were eventually reunited five days after the fire.
Barbara said after living through the events of the fire, Tuesday’s washout, which may have trapped up to 250 people, including the MacKays, wasn’t too worrying.
She said they would manage with the community used to coming together, and helping each other where they could.
‘‘The village itself is not in immediate danger as it is only a rolling hill above the lake. Those of us that live here are pretty onto it and always have a few extra cans of food just in case.’’
Waitaki mayor Gary Kircher said about 150 visitors were staying in the Lake Ō hau Lodge, but had enough food and were being well looked after.
Waitaki District Council issued a statement on Wednesday afternoon saying the washout on the road was being treated as a priority.
‘‘Just short of 300 cubic metres of rock has been deposited into the washout. Further works will continue to reinstate this as soon as possible.
‘‘The washout at Ō hau Rd remains a priority and Civil Defence has been working with the community to support their needs.’’
Civil Defence controller David Campbell confirmed one of the bridge abutments (approaches) had been washed away.
‘‘We are looking at having the abutment reinstated by the weekend,’’ Campbell said.
Barbara MacKay said there were still large puddles and a bit of surface flooding, but water levels were receding yesterday.
‘‘There are a few pools of water around town and there was about 15 minutes of a snow flurry but other than that we are fine.’’
She was one of the first people to come across the washed out bridge, on the only road link to State Highway 8, on Tuesday morning.
‘‘I only knew that the bridge was washed out because I was heading into Twizel for work and I got to the bridge, and it was gone.’’
She had no choice but to turn around and head home, and said she had notified the Waitaki District Council.
‘‘We are always watching out for people here, so if anyone needs something – someone will be able to help.’’