Young students on Banks Peninsula marae trip cut off by floodwaters
Tuesday, 17 February 2026
State Highway 75 will remain closed overnight after rivers of water flowed over Banks Peninsula roads, cutting off communities and dozens of young students from Christchurch.
The rain has forced a group of 60 students, parents, and teachers from Kahikatea Kirkwood Intermediate School to stay an extra night at Ōnuku Marae near Akaroa after floodwaters prevented them fromreturning home through Little River on Tuesday.
Principal Phil Tappenden said on reflection he could have made a different decision about sending the students, “but I knew they’d be safe and that's the main thing”.
All parents had been informed and were understanding and supportive, Tappenden said.
“The kids’ safety is paramount, so we made the decision to stay an extra night because it’s the best thing to do,” he said. “The marae is generously hosting us, and the kids are having a ball.”
Ōnuku Rūnanga General Manager Jo McLean said everyone was safe, warm and well in the marae.
One resident said the damage to Little River was “unbelievable”, and they feared they had lost everything as their property flooded and they fled to higher ground.
Cut off from Christchurch without power, land line services and a torrent of water, Little River locals woke to a “raging river” through the small Banks Peninsula town on Tuesday.
Te Roto o Wairewa Lake Forsyth was opened to the ocean to help drain the lake just after 3pm, but high swells and tides could close it again, a Christchurch City Council spokesperson said.
State Highway 75, between Gebbies Pass and Akaroa, would stay closed overnight as slips and floodwaters had not receded enough for safe passage, NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi said at 3.45pm.
A boil water notice was issued for Little River just before 2.30pm due to extensive flooding and overflowing septic tanks reducing the capacity and availability of the water treatment system, the Christchurch City Council said in a statement
“Water levels in Banks Peninsula streams and rivers remain high, and flood waters and hazards are present on some roads.”
Akaroa residents and visitors were told to remain in Akaroa and not attempt to drive towards Little River, where flooding remained in and around the township.
The notice was a public health precaution as the council could not guarantee water quality.
The “full force of the river” rushed through Greg Boyle's property. He said he helped evacuate two families from their homes at 3am and went himself to another friend’s home on higher ground.
“We have lost everything,” he said. “Possibly our house has been compromised too, although water hasn’t been through it, water has damaged the piles.”
Boyle’s implement shed and other out buildings have been severely damaged or destroyed. He listed a couple of classic cars, a farm tractor, implements, mowers, power tools and chainsaws as items spoiled.
“Several thousand native plants and trees that I have grown for years with a dream to plant our entire property have also been damaged or lost,” Boyle said.
“All our farm fences have been ruined … the damage is unbelievable.”
He believed the damage was caused by a slip and several fallen trees further upstream.
“We are safe and warm and have a beautiful caring community that we know will support us,” Boyle said.
Popular Little River pitstop flooded
Residents, business owners and emergency services all agree it’s the “worst’’ flooding they’ve seen in decades.
Little River Cafe co-owner Jess Morrison and her partner, Cameron Gordan, were lifting everything off the ground in their business late Monday night, but “we didn’t go high enough”, Morrison said.
Water flooded the entire cafe and gallery as high as the chillers at the back - “a good 30cm or more”.
The couple bought the cafe off Morrison’s parents 19 years ago, and she said the weather event was “the worst” they’d ever seen.
Western Valley Rd was bearing the brunt of the damage, “surrounded by water”.
“It’s gone right through a lot of houses”, she said, along with the local garage and pre-loved clothing shop.
As the couple face a cleanup and uncertainty on when they will be able to reopen the popular cafe, Morrison said her son was swimming in the domain with other local children and making videos - swapping soccer boots for togs.
“It looks like a river in the domain, it’s completely under. The kids find it amusing, they don’t have to go to school.”
‘Raging river’ and power cuts
Resident Carys Monteath said her whole Western Valley Rd property was a “raging river” and her fences had been lost.
“The whole yard is a foot deep in silt, where the water has slightly receded, the rest is a rather fast flowing river. It’s not great.
“It's the worst we've ever seen and we've been here for 10 years and other locals I’m chatting to have never seen it this bad either.”
Water got into her lower lying laundry, not the main house, but because Monteath’s home was further up Western Valley Rd, more elevated than others, she feared for her neighbours and the town village.
“The 2am knock on the door tells you it's pretty bad,” said Monteath, who had not slept since the fire brigade went house to house checking on everyone overnight.
Resident Matt McDougall filmed farmers scrambling to move stock to higher ground in Little River. One walked his cows through the flood waters, meanwhile another used a jet boat down the main road to check his stock.
“It’s crazy out here,” McDougall said.
Little River remained one of the many areas impacted by power cuts on Tuesday. More than 300 properties had power cut in Little River, Ahuriri, Birdlings Flat, Kaitorete Spit, Kaituna, Motukarara, Poranui Beach, and Prices Valley areas.
Little River School was closed on Tuesday. “We have not been able to get on site to ascertain damage,” principal Kealy Warren said.
Knee-deep flood water in places
The local fire station, too, was surrounded in flood water, in places up to knee deep. John Genefaas, chief fire officer for Little River Volunteer Fire Brigade, said they had 4WD vehicles available so they could attend callouts.
“This would be the worst flood I’ve seen in Little River and I’ve been here 30-plus years,” he said.
His team rescued one driver who got caught in flooding on the main road (SH75) about 11pm on Monday. She was all right, he said.
Toni Williams, of the Akaroa Volunteer Fire Brigade, was driving back to Banks Peninsula about 10am on Tuesday with a generator to help residents without power.
“Communication’s an issue. People can’t call 111.”
Wairewa Marae posted on Facebook just before 2.30pm, saying whānau were performing welfare checks across the takiwā (district).
“The situation can change quickly during a flood event. Listen for official announcements on local radio or follow Civil Defence online channels.”
The marae commended the work of emergency services who were helping to keep their communities safe.
‘Worst carnage’ at Little River Campground
At Little River Campground and Manaia Native Habitiat, footage shows shows a torrent of water flowing where there was once a bridge - but owner Marcus Puentener said “it got worse than that”.
Torrential rain on Monday night caused “the worst carnage” he had experienced in his 16 years in the area, taking out a couple of bridges, washing out the driveway and car park, and lifting tarseal.
“Water has gone through some of the office and some of the facilities. It’s a massive cleanup.”
A few visitors in campervans were stranded, including a holidaymaker from the US who had been due to fly internationally at 6am, Puentener said. “He’s a little bit perplexed to say the least.”
The weather event “took everyone by surprise”, he said.
“This one is twice the amount of the water they predicted, if not more. Most people woke up to the damage already done.”
“I’m devastated. It’s nothing we haven’t dealt with before [but] it’s just a long road to recovery.”
The campground would remain open, “it just won’t look its pristine self, we need to get diggers and shingle in to help clear the areas”.
There was no denying climate change, he said, as these kind of weather events became more regular.
“We just need to have a better Civil Defence response, more feet on the ground, more money dedicated to it.”
The community was pulling together with “fantastic” support from the volunteer fire brigade, he said.
“We’re a very resilient community … everyone looks after each other.”
Drainage hampered
Ten minutes down the road from Little River in Birdlings Flat, Leisa Elliott said the area was largely unaffected as the water was able to drain away.
“I used to live in Little River, if we get a big storm, the water can’t rain away because of the Lake [Forsyth].”
The latest drenching comes nine months after Little River and Akaroa townships were cut off due to flooding. Then, last May, rain flooded properties, homes and shops and cracked open a road.
Christchurch City Council teams had been preparing for the latest weather event, especially in Banks Peninsula, infrastructure general manager City Brent Smith said.
Lake Forsyth/Te Roto o Wairewa was closely monitored over recent days as water levels rose, he said.
The lake was regularly opened to the sea for drainage, but there were strict environmental, safety and consent conditions that determined when that could happen, he said.
“The lake has to reach a minimum level of 2.3 metres in summer, and we can only open early if forecasts show it may rise above 2.7m. Based on the forecasts we had at the time, it didn’t look like the lake would reach that threshold, so we weren’t able to open it.
“Sea conditions have also made opening impossible. We had waves of up to 3 to 4m over the weekend.”
The lake could not be opened at this stage, he said, but he expected it to be opened later this week once conditions allowed - “likely to be Wednesday”.