‘Dropped to zero’ - land loses value, with Akaroa crack ‘still shifting’

Monday, 5 May 2025

A large block of land in Akaroa is probably now worthless, owners say, after last week’s severe weather triggered evacuations and landslip fears.

Barrie Griffiths, who co-owns the 4.5-hectare block on Lighthouse Rd but lives in Auckland, said they were devastated after being told their land, which sits in the most affected “blue zone,” was now probably unbuildable. A 100-metre crack in the road nearby raised serious concerns about long-term stability.

“Pretty much the value of the land, you know, dropped to zero, overnight,” Griffiths said. “We’re pretty much looking at land that’s worth nothing now”.

Griffiths and his partner have been preparing the land for sale in recent months, describing it as a “prime location” with sweeping views and proximity to a vineyard. They had developed a building platform, installed infrastructure and planted “more than 3000 native trees” over the past few years.

Originally, they had planned to build a home and retire in Akaroa but moved to Auckland for work and later decided to sell.

“It’s devastating,” Griffiths said, noting the situation brought back difficult memories of land damage they suffered during Cyclone Gabrielle in Auckland two years ago. He said Civil Defence had installed monitoring equipment to check for ongoing land movement, but they had received no further updates in the past two days.

Caldera Estate owner Tony Anderson said his vineyard had escaped damage despite heavy rain and flooding along Lighthouse Rd.

“We have no damage on our property at all — no water damage, no slippage, nothing,” he told The Press on Monday afternoon.

His 12 staff were evacuated on Wednesday night under Civil Defence orders, and no timeline has been given for when businesses can return.

“We’re just waiting for council and the Government to make their assessments. There’s been no updates,” Anderson said.

The 14-acre estate opened four months ago after a year of construction. “It’s the biggest investment Banks Peninsula has ever seen. We just want to reopen, really,” he said.

Several Akaroa homes and businesses remain out of bounds after last week’s rainfall opened up a crack in a road.

The cracks in Lighthouse Rd were still shifting, the Christchurch City Council said, and it was monitoring the area closely. Four properties have been evacuated.

Council controller Anne Columbus said visual assessments suggest some land movement continued, and several days of data would be needed to fully understand what is happening.

Are you among those affected by the Lighthouse Rd situation? Email reporters@press.co.nz

“We need more information about land movement before a decision can be made about when they can return,” Columbus said.

The council was keeping in close contact with all evacuated residents, she added.

A state of emergency still in place for Banks Peninsula would be assessed next week.

“We still have a couple of issues in Banks Peninsula that we need to keep an eye on so it’s good to have access to powers under the State of Emergency if they’re required. There are some road closures over there, and some land instability that needs to be monitored,” Mayor Phil Mauger said on Sunday.

On Friday, after a Geotech assessment of the Lighthouse Rd cracks and surrounding land, an additional property on Aylmers Valley Rd was evacuated.

The assessment found there no immediate danger to the evacuated properties or other properties in the vicinity, but the council warned further evacuations could be ordered at short notice if conditions changed.

Flowers lost right before Mother’s Day

A week out from Mother’s Day, the downpour “could not have happened at a worse time” for Peninsula Flowers, which lost about 750 flowers and sustained about $20,000 of damage, owner Jess Cooke said.

The business leases four farms around Barrys Bay and specialises in New Zealand, Australian and South African natives, with a shop in Wigram.

The State Highway 75 closure cutting Banks Peninsula off from Christchurch meant four van loads of product were unable to be sent to the store to be graded, bunched, and delivered, putting them two days behind during their busiest week of the year.

The farms were without power or water for two days and suffered “quite a few slips” on roads between paddocks. Plant roots “can’t hold on” in sodden ground and wind.

Fifteen established bushes each with about 50 stems of flowers had been destroyed, Cooke said, which was “quite a blow”.

A “tiny stream” on site turned into a “raging torrent” during the rainfall. Now the farms were surrounded by mud and staff were sinking into the ground while trying to pick flowers.

But the flooding had drained away quickly.

Most of their plants were on steep slopes, which Cooke hoped would reduce damage.

She estimated there would be up to $20,000 worth of costs from trees falling down and the productivity needed to re-do driveways.

“Today we've got some sunshine that can do a bit of drying up for us. We're … very grateful for the contractors who worked through those days to get the road clear to get into Christchurch. They’ve done an amazing job.

“The locals all pitched in, we were all clearing the drains.”

Businesses in the town reopened

Tracey Spiers, owner of Akaroa Corner Café, says she “felt very lucky” the floodwaters didn’t make it into her property. While many businesses in the town were forced to close, her café managed to stay open throughout the worst of the weather.

“I live nearby, so it was easier for me to get in. I only closed on Sunday — but that was already planned,” she said.

Trade was steady for much of the week as visitors were stuck in town, but things dropped off over the weekend. “It was nice and busy at first, but Saturday was very quiet,” Spiers said.

The owner of The Brasserie Kitchen and Bar said they were closed for five days after mud and floodwaters inundated their property.

“We made no money for five days. We spent 20 hours cleaning up all the mud,” said the owner of the business who does not want to be named.

The clean-up was extensive, with mud reaching two inches deep across parts of the premises and water flooding through to the bathroom.

“It was like a swimming pool up here,” said the owner who has run the local business for 11 years.

Although the business reopened on Sunday, trade has been slow. “We did $50 that day. I paid three staff and made $50 for the day,” they said. They estimated losing around $1000 last week and expect similar losses this week as visitor numbers remain low.

“The roads are perfect now. You couldn’t even tell there was a flood because it’s so clean,” they said.

“We need everyone to come and spend some money in this town, otherwise it’ll die.”

Kirstin Dowgray from Faultline Gallery said most businesses in town closed last week due to heavy rain. She reopened on Saturday but said trade had been slow, with “almost no visitors”.