Severe thunderstorm warnings for West Coast as rain continues

Friday, 6 December 2019

Floods have hit Wanaka at a critical time for its residents.

A severe thunderstorm warning has been issued for Waitaki, Westland and Mackenzie after heavy rain earlier in the week caused slips and fallen trees to block off roads on the West Coast.

The thunderstorms are expected to be accompanied by torrential rain, a metservice meteorologist said.

The West Coast town of Haast was cut off from the rest of the country for the second time in a week as heavy rain continues to batter the South Island.

A slip has closed State Highway 6 near Haast, on the West Coast.

The NZ Transport Agency said State Highway 6 is closed between Haast to Makarora due to rockfall until at least 5pm on Saturday.

The heavy rain hammering the Coast earlier caused a slip north of Haast, on SH6 at Knights Point between Fox Glacier and Haast. One lane of the road reopened to local users on Friday afternoon, but may close again overnight depending on weather conditions.

A slip has closed SH6 at Clarke Bluff, east of Haast, following heavy rain.

In Otago, Wanaka and Queenstown residents were continuing to prepare for flooding with more than 2000 sand bags stacked around lakefront businesses and debris clearing under way.

**READ MORE:

Lake Wanaka's rising water spills onto the corner of Dungarvon and Ardmore streets.

* Ongoing downpours put Central Otago and West Coast on flood watch

* Flights cancelled, heavy downpours lash parts of New Zealand

* Chaotic weather cancels flights, sparks flood worry

* Heavy rain, gale-force winds and possible thunder moving down from the north**

Lake Wakatipu is close to flooding but that hasn't deterred tourists eager to go for jet boat rides.

Westland mayor Bruce Smith said the council's civil defence emergency operations centre had been activated to monitor the weather event.

'We have people trapped in Haast but we are not getting reports of big numbers of tourists stuck.

Sandbags have been placed along Queenstown's lakefront as Lake Wakatipu continues to rise. The Queenstown Lakes District Council has distributed 2500 sandbags around the region.

'We are expecting 390 millimetres of rain in the Fox Glacier and Franz Josef areas over the next couple of days, which is quite a lot and concerning because we've already had a lot of rain. Will it turn into something bad – I hope not,' he said.

Haast Beach General Store and Haast Beach Motel owner Nicola Johnston said it was 'like a ghost town'.

It was the second time this week the road had closed both north and south of Haast.

'Town is very very quiet. People know the road is closed and have made alternative arrangements. I'm just sitting here dealing with cancellations.'

Sand bags are being placed around businesses in Wanaka as the rain continues to pour.

The area normally had high rain fall, but it had been unusually prolonged and heavy, she said.

'Even for us it has been fairly extreme.'

Grey district mayor Tania Gibson said the weather warnings had forced the Greymouth Christmas Carnival to be scaled back.

Children's activities due to take place in the town centre on Saturday were cancelled. The Santa Parade would still go ahead, while a concert, market and santa visit would be moved indoors.

Businesses along Queenstown's Beach St have started sand-bagging in preparation for flooding.

'Due to the terrible weather that is predicted for the weekend our Christmas Carnival committee are having to make some pretty tough decisions. Reorganising 80-plus market stalls is not an easy task but we are trying to do what we can,' she said.

MetService issued a severe weather warning for Friday and early Saturday, saying flooding and disruption to transport is likely, as well as hazardous conditions for tramping.

Torrential rain has caused slips and fallen trees to block SH6 near Knights Point, north of Haast on the West Coast.

LAKES UNABLE TO SUBSIDE

MetService meteorologist Tahlia Crabtree said record amounts of rain had fallen in recent days.

SH6 north of Haast reopened to local users on Friday afternoon, but may close again overnight.

A video taken on the trail next to Queenstown's Hilton Hotel on Tuesday shows how high the water in Lake Wakatipu had become, with parts of the trail already flooded.

'More than 600mm of rain has accumulated at several weather stations in the Alps since Monday, which has then flowed from alpine headwaters into rivers and lakes.

'The persistent rain means lakes and rivers haven't had the chance to subside.'

Wild weather in Fiordland forced Kepler Challenge organisers to change the course for Saturday's endurance running event for only the third time in the event's 32-year history.

There were also strong wind warnings for the Lewis Pass (SH7), Arthur's Pas (SH73), SH87 from Kyeburn to Outram in Otago, the Marlborough region and the North Island's Wairarapa and Tararua districts. SH63 in Marlborough's Wairau Valley remained closed on Friday due to flooding.

OTAGO READY FOR FLOODING

The water at Wanaka has flooded footpaths along the shore.

In Otago, more than 2000 sandbags were sent to Queenstown, Wanaka and parts of Central Otago on Wednesday in advance of possible flooding.

The Queenstown Lakes District Council (QLDC) also closed off part of Wanaka's main lakefront street and a 30kmh speed limit was in place across the entire Wanaka CBD.

The sewer connection to some premises were shut down temporarily to mitigate the potential for sewage to enter the lake, and lakefront public toilets in Queenstown and Wanaka were closed on Friday.

QLDC general manager property and infrastructure and acting controller Peter Hansby said both Lake Wanaka and Lake Wakatipu were expected to peak at predicted levels by Sunday.

'Both lakes are expected to peak well below the 1999 flood levels. The [Otago Regional Council] has confirmed that rain has eased in the headwaters and the long-term (10-day) forecast does not contain significant rainfall.'

According to regional council data, Lake Wanaka's water level was 280.07 metres on Friday afternoon, just above the flooding alert level. Lake Wakatipu was at 311.17m, just below flooding level.

The regional council predicted it would take about 19 days without further rain to return to average December lake levels.

Lake Wanaka would need to drop more than 3m, and Lake Wakatipu a little over 1.2m.

Insurance Council of New Zealand chief executive Tim Grafton advised Wanaka residents to take pre-emptive steps to protect their belongings, including moving cars out of flood danger and putting valuable goods up higher.

The heavy rain forced 224 Wakatipu High School students and staff to be evacuated from a camp at the remote Branches Station on Thursday, and two course changes for the off-road Pioneer bike race.

The Catch Wanaka manager Johnny Shea said rain was still 'pouring' on Friday morning and it was looking 'extremely stormy' near the headwaters.

The rain had stopped on Thursday afternoon, but started again overnight. The lake had risen slightly but water had not reached the shops, he said.

In Central Otago, a boil water notice was in place for residents and visitors to Alexandra, Roxburgh and Lake Roxburgh Village on town water supplies until further notice.