Karamea still cut off, 22 homes damaged as Government pledges $300,000

Sunday, 13 February 2022

State Highway 67 between Karamea and Mokihinui on the Karamea Highway on the West Coast is closed.

Some communities are still cut off and others are without drinking water after severe weather on the West Coast.

Buller deputy mayor Sharon Roche confirmed four homes were left unhabitable and another 18 were damaged after water inundation. She expected the number could increase as more assessments were carried out.

Hundreds of people remain isolated north of Westport, cut off by slips and damage to State Highway 67, and support and medical supplies have been delivered by helicopter.

Mokihinui pub owner Di Hart said the pub had been yellow-stickered after heavy rain on Thursday.

* Wild weather set to worsen across North Island, as rain due to ease in the South

The extent of road damage at the Perserverance Bridge over the Inangahua River, between Reefton and Inangahua, was visible from a helicopter on Friday morning.

* West Coast flood breaks open old landfill, widespread damage to roads and bridges

She said seven properties in the small northern Buller community had been either red or yellow stickered after slips came down.

“Slips pushed water into houses. There’s a lot of movement in hills all behind Mokihinui, it’s still slipping,” she said.

“We were pretty lucky only the front part of the pub got wet so we are still able to operate. The floor needs replacing.”

SH67 between Karamea and Mokihinui was closed due to several slips.

A slip at the Seven Sisters on the Karamea Highway.

The Buller District Council closed the road to Karamea on Wednesday as a precaution as a washout caused instability on the Karamea Bluff during the red alert weather on February 3.

Further slips came down on the road during the orange heavy rain warning on February 10.

Tourist Wayne Harris said he had been stuck in Karamea since Wednesday, on what was supposed to be a one-day trip.

“Advice on when the road may open is terrible. Daily they say update 9am then noon, then 6pm and now 3pm with no comment on progress of clearing the slips. Hopeless,” he said.

He understood there were more than 60 people stuck in town.

From Monday, the council will organise an escorted convoy to access and leave Karamea three times a day.

Residents move belongings from a flooded home in Westport on Thursday.

Manager infrastructure delivery Eric de Boer said traffic would be escorted over the Karamea Bluff at 9am, 1pm and 5pm.

People who wanted to leave or access Karamea needed to queue at the closure sites – the Mokihinuibridge pullover bay on the Westport side and near Lake Hanlon/StoneKingdom/Kahurangi Heights area at the Karamea side – at those times.

Karamea dairy farmer Frano Volckman said he, and all other farmers in the area, were dumping milk without any milk tankers able to get in.

There was also a lot of damage to farms in the Inangahua area after heavy rain and slips.

“We have had a very dry January with no rain at all and then two large rain fall events. It’s not ideal. No farmer wants to dump milk,” he said.

He said a $200,000 fund from the Government for affected farmers would be “gobbled up pretty quick”.

Meanwhile, the Buller District Council had advised property owners below the Denniston Road slip could return home but there was still a risk of more movement.

“Removing surcharge slip debris has reduced the risk of instability of the slip…The geotechnical advice indicates that residents may return home, but care is required if high hourly intensity rainfall is falling throughout the weekend. If this should arise, precautionary self-evacuation is recommended,” a statement said.

Roche said weather conditions would be easing on Sunday afternoon.

“It’s been a wild ride for the community – we’ve had evacuations, flooding, slips, road closures, dump exposures, power outages and more. The resiliency of the community, contractors and emergency management teams has been put to the test.”

A large slip which has cut drinking water access to Waimangaroa on the West Coast.

A state of emergency remains in place across the Buller district on the West Coast.

Staff remained at the Buller Emergency Operations Centre and local contractors continue to assess and repair any damage to roads, power, and water.

One power line has been reported down near the old Seddonville Library. Buller Electricity Limited will work to repair this as soon as possible and people are asked to remain away from the area as the line may still be live.

“There’s been extensive damage to infrastructure across the district and it’s going to take time to assess, plan and repair this damage,” Roche said.

Up to 200m of the Reefton landfill was exposed due to the flooding, and work was quickly carried out to temporarily cap the exposed area before ex-tropical cyclone Dovi passed through.

“Staff continue to monitor the area and plan for more permanent works. Access has been challenging with weather and roading impacts, but staff are again, working as fast as they can to manage this site,” she said.

Teams would visit the site to collect the remaining rubbish when it was safe to do so.

Waimangaroa has been without water since Thursday after slips damaged the pipes along Conns Creek Road. Council staff and contractors were working on the slips which were worse than expected in some areas.

“It’s been a stressful and frightening time for many people in our community. Repairing and rebuilding will take time and be challenging, but I’m certain we’ll get through.”

Rural Communities Minister Damien O’Connor said the event had been classified as a medium-scale adverse event which unlocked Government support for farmers and growers.

“We’re making $200,000 available for the local Rural Support Trusts and Mayoral Relief Funds to call on to help farmers and growers recover, with the majority on support efforts for the West Coast,” he said.

He said $27,000 was still available from the fund provided to support farmers after the July floods.

Minister for Emergency Management Kiri Allan announced another $100,000 for the Mayoral Relief Fund to help residents affected by the severe weather.

“I know this latest flooding has been devastating for many people still trying to recover from last July’s floods.”

The funds are in addition to other support that people may be eligible for through the Ministry of Social Development and Ministry for Primary Industries.

“The Government is closely watching the impact of the current weather events across the country this weekend and will provide further support as needed,” she said.