Hundreds evacuated, roads flooded and communities cut off on West Coast after days of torrential rain
Friday, 4 February 2022
West Coast residents woke on Saturday to assess the damage after heavy rain battered the region for more than 48 hours.
Hundreds of people had been evacuated for the night from their homes in and around Westport, roads were flooded and slips on State Highway 67 left communities cut off between Fairdown and Mokihinui.
In a positive development however, Civil Defence Buller Emergency Management let evacuated people return to their homes early on Saturday morning, saying the effects of the storm weren’t as severe as they had feared in Westport.
There appeared to be little flooding in the Westport township on Saturday.
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More than 1000 homes were visited by officials on Friday as they worked to evacuate the town, and more than 650 households were evacuated.
According to monitoring by the West Coast Regional Council, the Buller River level peaked at 8.5 metres high at about 6.30pm. By comparison, during the July 2021 flood, it reached 12.8m.
Members of the New Zealand Army's 3rd Combat Service Support Battalion were deployed to assist with the flooding, while local volunteers delivered sandbags to the worst-hit areas.
Buller mayor Jamie Cleine said that there were lots of smiling faces on Saturday morning, as no houses were inundated overnight.
“Rivers peaked, and came and went without significant property damage in terms of housing anyway,” he told Stuff.
Cleine said there was some damage to the region’s roads and some surface flooding remained, particularly in Northern Buller.
“There’s a couple of creeks out there that jumped out of their normal track and have caused some damage to roads and farm access,” he said.
“That’s still be accessed this morning, finalised, but we’ve certainly heard from all those communities and they’ve all said ‘we’re OK’ and no significant majors out there either,” Cleine said.
All technical advice suggested the event is over. “We might have a bit of showery weather over the next day or so, but overall the threat seems to be over.”
Cleine said he was comfortable with the decision to evacuate parts of the town.
“[What has happened] was one of the scenarios, so obviously you had to plan for something slightly worse than that, and that’s what we did,” he said.
“It’s not like we’ve had nothing happen, there’s certainly some houses that were very close to getting wet and some property damage further north.”
Minister for Emergency Management Kiri Allan said the response was now focused on getting people to return to their homes.
“I’d like to thank everyone who recognised the call to support the West Coast community during this response. It’s been a real team effort that has brought local and national agencies together with volunteers and the community in a massive co-ordinated effort.”
A state of emergency was declared on Thursday, just six months after devastating floods in the same area in July last year.
Hokitika Airport received about 124mm of rain in the 24 hours to 5pm on Friday, while Westport recorded 123mm. The most rain fell in the Westland ranges which recorded about 140mm.
Among those evacuated were a woman and her young children – one in just a nappy – who were rescued by helicopter.
Police said they were alerted a family of four had been trapped by floodwaters on Powerhouse Rd, near Fairdown.
Murchison Helicopters pilot Rob Hunt received a call from Civil Defence saying “a family was possibly in trouble”.
The crew liaised with Fire and Emergency New Zealand to locate the family, who had got out of a tractor and were on higher ground when Hunt and his other crew member Jake Anderson spotted them.
The mother was relieved to see the crew and “just happy to be dry”, Hunt said.
Her two young children – a toddler and a baby – were “a bit shaken up with the weather and cold”, but were more settled when they were in the safety of the aircraft and had earmuffs on, he said.
They were airlifted out, uninjured, at 3.45pm. The other adult was not evacuated, Fire and emergency management said.
Westport couple Barbara and Ken Phipps were evacuated from their home, having only returned to the property eight weeks ago due to the July 2021 floods.
“The builders have been really good getting the house back to normal, and it’s pretty gutting having to go through it again,” he said.
Barbara, who is battling cancer, said she was thankful for everyone who pitched in to help them evacuate. The couple were safe and staying in a Westport motel on Friday evening.
Ten people self-evacuated from Seddonville on Friday night to the evacuation centre at the local campground.
By 4pm on Friday, the Buller River had risen to about 8.1 metres, which is past its first alert level, according to the West Coast Regional Council.
Police, LandSar staff and volunteers visited 281 homes and at least 158 houses were evacuated by 2pm on Friday.
Stephen Switalla, 67, was one of the residents in the north of Westport who was told to evacuate. He said he was frustrated with the situation.
“We are hoping to tough it out here and stay here,” he said.
“The last flood, it was only up to the backdoor, it never got into the house.”
He had a friend's place he could go to if the water did start getting up, he said.
A welfare centre was established at the former Holcim cement site near Cape Foulwind. Some people refused to be evacuated, choosing to stay with their properties.
Rumours that a small hydroelectric dam north of Westport had failed were unfounded, the Civil Defence Emergency Management (CDEM) said.
A civil engineer made an initial assessment of the Lake Rochfort dam on Friday afternoon and advised it has not been breached.
Further south, the local emergency operations centre in Westland said its district dodged a bullet.
Local controller Simon Bastion said there were no “significant” reports of flooding or damage in the district following Wednesday and Thursday’s heavy rainfall.
The red weather warnings issued by MetService for Buller and Westland from about Otira northwards, were due to end by Friday evening at 9pm and 11pm.
MetService forecaster Gerard Bellam said most of the “rough patch” would end by then and would be followed by weather “drying up over the next few days”, he said.
Some rain would continue into Saturday evening while the weather system moved north, and a “few spots of rain” could be expected on Sunday and Monday.
“Once we get through this rough patch, we’re in for a few dry days on the coast… which should help with the recovery down there.”
A MetService update at 9pm on Friday said further periods of heavy rain are to be expected for the Buller area.
Between 150 to 200mm of rain will accumulate about the ranges and 60 to 100mm near the coast.
This is in addition to what has already fallen. The heavy rain warning – Red – will remain in place until at least 9am on Saturday.