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Evacuated Marlborough residents allowed to return from midday when highway reopens

Sunday, 18 July 2021

Spring Creek and Tuamarina households wait for State Highway 1 to reopen after severe flooding.

Residents in the evacuated Marlborough settlements of Spring Creek, Tuamarina and Lower Wairau can return to their homes from midday.

The Marlborough District Council said State Highway 1, including the Wairau River bridge is also expected to re-open from midday. Evacuees are being reunited with vehicles stranded along the highway between Picton and Blenheim. Stranded vehicles will also be removed by police if the owner cannot be located or the vehicle is damaged.

State Highway 6 between Renwick and Havelock is not expected to open until mid-afternoon at the earliest.

SH63 is not expected to re-open for some days. Many local roads are still closed.

Civil Defence Marlborough controller Brian Paton earlier said engineers were assessing the damage from a helicopter flyover on Sunday morning.

Aerial image showing the extent of the flooding in the Marlborough region, photographed from an Air NZ flight inbound to Blenheim on Sunday morning.
Aerial image showing the extent of the flooding in the Marlborough region, photographed from an Air NZ flight inbound to Blenheim on Sunday morning.

**READ MORE:

* Hundreds spend night in evacuation centres as heavy rain hits parts of NZ

Wairau floods after heavy rain

* Brutal weather system causes chaos across Marlborough

* 900 people evacuated in worst Marlborough flood on record

* Flights and ferries cancelled, towns cut off as weather causes chaos for transport network

**

The Wairau River threatened the Wairau River Bridge, right, on Saturday during severe rain and flooding.
The Wairau River threatened the Wairau River Bridge, right, on Saturday during severe rain and flooding.

Paton said the number of people evacuated in Marlborough had climbed to 1900 by nightfall on Saturday.

That included people in Renwick’s lower terraces, the lower Wairau Plains between the Wairau Bar and the Diversion, households on the western side of Tuamarina, and most of Spring Creek.

Civil Defence notified affected households with both an Emergency Mobile Alert, using cellphone towers to target certain areas, and the Civil Defence response team also visited households supported by fire crews.

Paddocks bore the brunt of the flooding across Marlborough, as seen from this aerial image taken from an inbound Air New Zealand flight.
Paddocks bore the brunt of the flooding across Marlborough, as seen from this aerial image taken from an inbound Air New Zealand flight.

People in the lower Renwick terraces were able to return home on Sunday morning, Paton said.

Roads in the Marlborough Sounds were also to be avoided, with many slips on Queen Charlotte Drive and Kenepuru Rd caused by the heavy rain, and there was a major landslide on Awatere Valley Rd, not far past of the large landslide caused by the 7.8-magnitude earthquake in 2016.

A Marlborough District Council spokesperson said people should assume all floodwater was contaminated, and wash hands after contact. River levels had dropped substantially overnight.

A part of Queen Charlotte Drive between Havelock and Cullen Point that has been washed away by flood water.
A part of Queen Charlotte Drive between Havelock and Cullen Point that has been washed away by flood water.

Have you been affected by flooding? Email jennifer.eder@stuff.co.nz

Spring Creek residents Chris Wilson and Vaughan Simpson spent the night in their bus and on Sunday were waiting at the Spring Creek supermarket car park to be allowed to return to their house on Ferry Rd.

Wilson and Simpson were asked to evacuate their place by the fire brigade yesterday at 5pm.

Wairau Valley deputy chief fire officer Richard Peterson responds to wild weather in Marlborough.

“We did not get a lot of sleep, of course we were worried about the house being left, but we are fine. And it is not raining, it is amazing!” Wilson said.

They went to the Four Square in Spring Creek to grab a hot coffee and were waiting to get further instructions.

“The road is still blocked. We are just sitting outside the Four Square and the police are here.

“We are just waiting for someone to let us through. We keep an eye on the weather forecast and on the river.

“We left from where we were staying last night and just dropped here to see what was happening. We can't really go very far, but we are lucky we've got the bus,” Wilson said.

State of Emergency

A state of emergency was declared in Marlborough as breached stopbanks along the Wairau River forced evacuations. Evacuees were advised to spend Sunday night with friends or whānau in Blenheim, while the council was able to house those with nowhere to go.

Roads were also closed due to flooding along State Highway 6, between Renwick and Havelock, and State Highway 63, between Renwick and St Arnaud. Motorists were asked to respect the road closures and not drive through floodwaters.

Rising waters also shut numerous roads to the portside town of Picton, including State Highway 1 to the south and Queen Charlotte Drive, with no other detours available.

A Fire and Emergency spokesperson said fire crews from Picton and Rarangi freed passengers from two vehicles caught at Tuamarina, along State Highway 1, on Saturday afternoon.

The weather had improved on Sunday with the heavy rain subsiding overnight. MetService forecast showers to move in on Sunday about 4pm.

Stadium 2000 has been used as an information hub for evacuees from surrounding Marlborough areas.

Stadium 2000 manager Bridget Taylor said they were used as an information hub for evacuees from surrounding Marlborough areas.

'We were to support people who needed assistance, offering a hot cup of tea or access to a phone, helping with accomodation,' Taylor said.

Red Cross Marlborough has been supervising the situation on the ground.

Waka Kotahi have advised the following roads remain closed: