Canterbury floods: More stress for communities already hit by fires, quakes

Sunday, 30 May 2021

Heavy rain that caused flooding, evacuations and road closures is expected to start easing soon, but some residents have still had to flee rising waters and Ashburton is cut off from the north.

Residents in the Coopers Creek catchment north of the Orari River in South Canterbury were asked to evacuate immediately on Monday morning due to flooding.

Fonterra had closed and evacuated its Clandeboye factory near Temuka due to flooding in the surrounding area.

Severe flooding was also affecting Akaroa on Banks Peninsula, cutting off Little River, where the local school was evacuated.

**READ MORE:

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* Canterbury floods: State of emergency in Ashburton and Timaru, thousands of homes at risk

**

Deep flooding on State Highway 1 from the Waikirikiri/Selwyn River near Dunsandel, south of Christchurch, meant the road was unlikely to reopen for another day.

“In North Canterbury, rain is continuing and we have a number of areas we need to assess, for example SH73, Porter’s Pass to the West Coast, which will remain closed,” Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency journey manager Tresca Forrester said.

A state of emergency was declared across Canterbury after Ashburton, Timaru and Selwyn districts issued similar declarations earlier on Sunday.

Rivers across Canterbury surged after what was called a one-in-100-year downpour, pushing stopbanks to the brink and triggering rescues, evacuations power cuts and road closures.

All residents in low-lying areas of Pines Beach, near Kaiapoi north of Christchurch, were told to evacuate about 9.30am on Monday after a flood gate became stuck open, putting parts of the village at risk of flooding.

The Civil Defence Centre at Rangiora Baptist Church was open for those needing somewhere to stay.

Residents on higher sections of Pines Beach could stay, but may be isolated if Beach Rd flooded.

Water from the swollen Waimakariri River entered the Kairaki Creek, causing flooding in lower lying areas, particularly around Dunns Ave, Pines Kairaki Beach Association committee president Mandy Cooke said.

Some residents were asked to leave as a precaution on Sunday night, “but it was still our call to stay home or to evacuate”.

She was aware of water entering some garages, and that hose residents had gone to higher ground.

“Most residents are watching and waiting and hunkering down,” Cooke said.

“But we are all ready to get out if need be. If that call is to go, we will go.”

Access to the area was now limited to residents only.

Cooke said it would be too difficult to clear the debris, and the normally placid creek was “now just a torrent”.

The community had been through earthquakes, fires and floods over the last decade and was “certainly a very resilient community”.

“We do keep our heads in situations like this.”

Rising river levels forced the urgent evacuation of more than 240 homes in North Canterbury overnight, and residents across the region were being urged to stay off the roads on Monday.

There were 11 state highway closures in place throughout Canterbury on Monday afternoon due to slips, flooding and damaged bridges.

High tide had caused severe flooding in Akaroa township late Monday morning, believed to be caused by blocked pipes. The Christchurch City Council had contractors and staff on the ground and were working to ease the flooding.

Seventeen roads were still closed in the Ashburton district and three bridges had collapsed or been washed away. Others were expected to be affected by flooding and damage.

Big repair bill ahead

An uninsured shipping container holding nearly all of Karlene Baker’s belongings was now nearly completely submerged in floodwater.

“Everything I own is in there – furniture, whiteware, clothes, photos, dressing tables, beds, my son's belongings. A lot of my daughter's furniture.”

Baker, who has lived in a caravan in Tinwald since a break-up in 2019, said she was not ready to open the container and see how many of her belongings had been destroyed.

She and several other residents spent several hours getting their animals to safety on Sunday, but a shed with horse gear and a chook house were badly damaged.

Landowner David Weir described the situation as “a bit of a disaster”.

Fergus Wakelin has farmed on his property near the south branch of the Ashburton River for eight years, and his rain gauge had never topped 120mm before. This weekend the gauge returned a reading of 320mm.

It was not the only figure Wakelin is noting, with the repair bill for damaged fences on his 70-hectare property south of Mt Somers estimated to cost $50,000.

The flooding threat for his family, including his wife and 1-year-old son, had gone but they now had a large clean-up ahead.

The cattle and deer farmer said the river burst above their property and was “flowing across the road”.

''Our house is safe, but half of our farm has been cut-off with water.''

He was up every two hours to check on the river's water level.

Wakelin praised the early weather warnings, which gave farmers time to shift stock to higher ground.

“The community has done really well.”

Ashburton River still a risk

Ashburton mayor Neil Brown said the risk of the Ashburton River breaching its banks was not over, and warned it would be another 24 hours of “waiting and watching”.

About 4000 homes were at risk of flooding: up to 1700 houses on the south branch of Ashburton River, and 2200 homes on the north branch.

The river was flowing at 1400 cumec on Monday morning and had dropped to 1200cum by 2.30pm.

“We're still watching it very very carefully.”

The only way out of Ashburton to the north was by air.

“If you don't need to go out don't,” Brown urged people across the district.

Support was being offered to hard-hit farmers, with Rural Support Trust personnel available, and helicopters flying feed into farmers who had been unable to drive out to get any.

“There is a lot of damage … we're through the worst of it rainwise, but there's still a lot of water coming down.”

It could take two or three days for the river level to return to normal, Brown said.

He hoped the river, which was flowing at 1400 cubic metres per second early on Monday, was peaking. The flow was about only 400cum on Sunday morning.

“The risk is not over. For the next 24 hours we will be on tenterhooks and then we will reassess it again.”

Residents were warned they needed to be ready in case they needed to evacuate. A text would go out to all residents, followed by staff going door to door.

With extra police, Fire and Emergency New Zealand (Fenz) staff and the army arriving in the town, Brown was confident the “huge resources” would be enough.

He believed the flooding was the worst the region had ever experienced.

“The Ashburton River has never before been at that flow, it's never been up that high.”

It was unclear what the long-term damage from the flood would be. While the stopbank near the Ashburton Bridge had not broken, there were other places where the river had burst onto farmland.

“One good thing about it is that it's nice and warm, which the stock will enjoy, they will have wet feet but it's not cold for them.”

People urged to stay home

Federated Farmers Mid-Canterbury president David Clark said river levels were starting to recede and rain was starting to ease.

There were some “isolated break-outs” though, including the south branch of the Ashburton River.

“What happened was much worse than the worst predictions. People that moved stock to high ground has found that high ground was not high enough. Anyone near a river that thought they were protected by stop banks are finding the rivers are letting go and inundating farms right across Mid-Canterbury.”

He urged farmers to look after themselves, their families and staff first.

“Do whatever you can to get to stock and get them fed but safety is first and foremost.”

He also appealed to the public not to drive unless absolutely necessary.

“If you don't have an urgent reason to be on the road stay home and have a cup of coffee. The water is hiding massive holes in the roads making driving very dangerous.

“People thinking they are driving in 200mm of water could find themselves falling in a hole 2 metres deep,” he said.

In North Canterbury, about 113 homes in the Fernside area (between Oxford and Mt Thomas roads), near the Ashley River, were evacuated late Sunday night. Another 133 homes in the Eyre River area were evacuated by police and Fenz personnel. The Eyre River residents were cleared to return home about 9.30am on Monday.

Thirteen people stayed inside overnight at the Rangiora Baptist Church, while a few more stayed in campervans in the car park.

At the Mandeville Sports Centre, 15 people stayed inside overnight, and another 11 chose to sleep in their cars in car park.

Waimakariri mayor Dan Gordon said council staff were working around the clock and hoped residents near the Eyre River would be able to return home soon.

River levels were up and down, but were currently “trending down, not up”.

Gordon said roading engineers and contractors were out checking the extent of the damage on Monday morning.

The worst affected areas and biggest concern remained the Ashley River and the Oxford/Mt Thomas area.

People in the Waikuku, Fernside and Southbrook areas and those east of Ashley village were told to be ready to evacuate if they received an emergency alert on their cellphone. The warning lifted about 1.30pm on Monday.

Okuku resident Staven Mcquillan said it may be the worst flooding he had experienced in the area.

“I think this time it’s a write-off and we may end up losing the house by tomorrow.”

His shed had collapsed and Mcquillan was unsure how much of his livestock – including sheep, cattle and the small piggery – had survived.

He had evacuated on Sunday, but returned when the river levels dropped. He was planning to flee again as the Okuku River had cut a channel through to his property.

“It’s totally fallen to bits around us.”

Mcquillan’s piggery was also destroyed in 2017 when the tail end of ex-Cyclone Debbie struck the region. The animals survived though by swimming through the night and “holding on with their arms wrapped around a branch”, he said at the time.

Next door neighbour Mark Berryman said he had never seen the Okuku River so high and feared his house which sits not far from the riverbank, would be flooded.

The water had receded on Monday but the piggery remained completely flooded and inaccessible. One shed had a river of dirty brown water running through it while the house was completely surrounded by the flood.

Another neighbour said she had not seen anything like the amount of flooding around the property in the 20 years she had lived there.

Water had ruined her vegetable gardens and flooded the chicken coop, forcing her chickens to roost up high in a tree. She said her son had been stuck in Rangiora since Saturday.

Graham Dolan had to leave his house on North Eyre Rd and spend the night in his car with his dog Ragna at the Mandeville Sports Club.

“We just grabbed a change of clothes and a toothbrush. And the dog food. Don’t forget the dog food.”

He did know what he would return to once he was allowed back.

“It’s a bit of a shock. I just go with the flow.”

Fenz spokesman Andrew Norris said two people, who were in a rental car, got stuck in floodwater on Highfield Rd near the Selwyn River/Waikirikiri just after 6.15am on Monday.

The pair were understood to have been heading towards Christchurch Airport, but looked for an alternative route when they found the Selwyn River Bridge at SH1 was closed.

The pair were uninjured, Norris said.

A New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) spokesperson said they had helped evacuate more than 50 people and a helicopter crew rescued three people from floods in the Ashburton area overnight.

An elderly couple were rescued from a car roof near Methven just before midnight, and a man was rescued from a tree surrounded by floodwater near Darfield.

The man was in a tree surrounded by floodwater, then tried to swim and was swept downstream. He was rescued from the water after the crew searched for him for about 30 minutes, the NZDF said.

State highway closed

State Highway 1 was closed between Burnham and Dunsandel, southwest of Christchurch, and at the Hinds River Bridge, south of Ashburton.

The highway was also closed at Temuka, near the intersection of Arowhenua Rd, and in Ashburton near the intersection with Saunders Rd.

SH79 between Fairlie and Rangitata was also closed, as did SH8 Fairlie to Tekapo, SH77 Rakaia Gorge to Methven, SH77 Darfield to Mt Hutt, and SH73 Springfield to Castle Hill, and SH75 Little River (between Barrys Bay and Birdlings Flat).

An update on SH73 was not expected until midday Tuesday.

The next high tide would happen about 8.30am, coinciding with higher river lows in both the Ashley and Waimakariri rivers and potential wind/storm surges.

The council said Kairaki and Waikuku Beach area would be closely monitored during this time.

About 76 homes in the Wainui area, Akaroa Harbour, were still without power just before 10am on Monday after a line fault cut power about 7.30pm on Sunday.

Two homes in the Hororata area and one home in Woolston, Christchurch, were also without power on Monday due to flooding.

More than 50 schools and another 24 preschools across the region were closed.

Residents dig channel for stream

Another evacuation of about 100 people from 42 houses in Springfield was completed by about 10pm on Sunday with the help of a local tourist operator who provided four-wheel-drive buses for the operation. Earlier on Sunday, fire crews helped people evacuate the Selwyn Huts area near Springston.

The evacuated Springfield residents had been able to stay with friends and family in the community, he said.

Springfield resident Marama Clarkson said residents spent much of Sunday afternoon digging out a channel for the Bishops Gully stream, which had flooded several houses in Springfield.

On Monday morning, Clarkson was checking on her neighbouring properties on Albert St, which had been evacuated on Sunday evening, to make sure there had not been any further carnage.

She said the water level peaked about 4pm on Sunday and had since receded. Besides some neighbours' bins floating down her driveway on Sunday night, her home had been relatively unscathed.

A ‘do not consume’ notice was in place for Springfield’s water supply due to increased turbidity. Urgent supplies of bottled water would be made available at the Springfield Fire Station.

Seven campers were being accommodated at the Glentunnel Community Centre and 15 who were camping at Lake Lyndon had been moved to the Lake Coleridge Community Centre.

MetService meteorologist Peter Little said the rain was expected to ease on Monday and clear on Tuesday, then there would be several days of fine and dry weather.

“Although the rain is easing … people still need to take care and follow the advice of local authorities as rivers will remain swollen for some time after the rain ceases, and floodwaters will also take time to recede.”

Several weather stations in the Canterbury high country recorded more than 300mm of rain in just 48 hours, with one station receiving more than half a metre of rain.

“Christchurch recorded around 100mm of rain during this event, while Ashburton clocked up more than 150mm, which is more than two months’ worth of rain for these places.”

Christchurch mayor Lianne Dalziel, in her role as chairwoman of the Canterbury Civil Defence Joint Committee, issued a region-wide state of emergency late on Sunday afternoon.

She pent part of Sunday with Civil Defence response teams visiting affected parts of the city.

It was “enormously gratifying” to see the investment the council had put into flood protection in areas like Flockton and along the Heathcote River paying off, she said.

The Christchurch City Council said the heavy rain had resulted in some wastewater overflows so people were advised to treat any flood waters or river water they came into contact with as potentially contaminated.

Residents in Akaroa and surrounding areas were being asked to conserve water.

The water supply in the area relied heavily on the surrounding streams, which were being affected by the heavy rain.

That meant drinking water was only being sourced from bores. Until the streams could be used again, residents were asked to use water sparingly.

There were no contamination issues with the drinking water and boiling was not currently required.