Five wrecked cars show the awesome power of Wellington flooding
Wednesday, 29 April 2026
The awesome power of last week’s flooding is becoming strikingly clear in the debris of cars picked up and wrecked in the normally placid Ōwhiro Stream.
Perrin Tilly lives by the Wellington south coast stream and said five cars were bobbing around last Monday “like Thomas the Tank Engine” before getting sucked under a bridge.
A Suzuki Swift made it to the river mouth but was almost turned into a cube. A Toyota hybrid remains wrecked and jammed vertically under the bridge. Beneath that, buried but for a visible front wheel and door, is a four-wheel drive.
Further down the creek, a mini remains perched on a pile of broken trees. A fifth car made it out to sea.
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A regional state of emergency was declared in Wellington last week when a once-in-a-generation rainfall dumped on the city, with Berhampore and nearby suburbs recording the most-extreme rainfall.
Homes through low-lying Island Bay, parts of Berhampore and Ohiro Rd were flooded with the council handing out one-tonne rubbish bags for people to dump soiled items.
Wellington mayor Andrew Little said about 700 of the bags had been distributed but there was still much more work to do.
“There'll be a bit of appraisal about property, the most flood damaged properties, what happens with them,” he said.
“That'll be in conjunction with insurance companies where they're concerned. And then I think the next phase is to consider … is there anything about the storm water system that we need to review?”
He was still waiting for details of damage to council property.
Council offices would also appraise if there were any flood-prone areas that should not be built on, he said.
“I don't want to get ahead of what council officers will advise or what the technical kind of advice will be, but obviously we need to have a good hard look at the location of some houses,” he said.
Little praised the “phenomenal” work of council staff, who had been taken off their regular jobs and worked through the long weekend on the flood response.