Residents forced to flee homes as river breaches its banks

Wednesday, 17 August 2022

A long time Nelson resident was shocked at how quickly the Maitai River flooded.

“Looking down Nile St, the way up to the second bridge over the Maitai, all I can see are police lights, firefighters, a naiad (boat) going up to each house and trying to find a way in. I've been living here for 15 years and I've never seen anything like it,” Lisa Lawrence said.

Lawrence, whose house overlooks Nile St, was looking down on a sea of brown water on Wednesday afternoon.

“I can see the backyard of the houses flooded out. The backyards are filled with things from people's garages: washing baskets, buckets - anything that can float.

She said watching the waters rise was surreal, and Lawrence felt deeply for her neighbours, forced to leave their homes.

About 70 homes have had to evacuate north of the Nile St bridge, although the number of homes affected is thought to be a lot higher and more homes have been flooded down stream.

Maitai Valley Motor Camp manager Lynn Peacock said conditions were 'pretty wild'.

'The river has breached into the bottom of the camp,' Peacock said. 'I don't think anyone has seen it like this before.'

Flooding had closed the road, catching out a few residents who would have to spend the night in town, she said. The rest of them were just waiting it out, Peacock said.

'There's nowhere to go, we're locked in. There's no point in panicking, we're just sitting tight, keeping an eye on things.'

People Stuff spoke to were scared and nervous about their homes.

“The thing people keep repeating is that they've never seen anything like this before.”