Gisborne District

Gisborne NZ - Turning into a flood

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• published: 21 Sep 2015
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THE heaviest rainfall event of the year hit the Gisborne region overnight, with intense downpours in many areas and rivers rapidly rising in flood. This morning rainfall of nearly an inch (25mm) an hour was recorded by Gisborne District Council rain gauges in a number of places, with the gauge at Tatapouri recording a whopping 32mm in the one hour up to 9am Rivers around Gisborne have risen dramatically and there is surface flooding all over the Flats. http://www.gisborneherald.co.nz https://www.facebook.com/gisborneherald https://www.youtube.com/gisborneherald Gisborne-East Coast Federated Farmers provincial president Sandra Faulkner said farmers and croppers would be affected. “This is the sort of weather you would normally anticipate for June or July and it could have some serious impacts on livestock production — mainly in the higher country round the hills where they are into lambing,” she said. “I would anticipate significant losses with newborn lambs, and possibly even calves if they cannot get up after they are born and get dry,” Mrs Faulkner said. “The other impact will be on cropping. Anyone with seed in the ground may end up having to replant because of this rain.” There had been significant falls and the rain was not moving off as forecast. “On the positive side it will do wonders for the watertables and bring up soil moisture levels. “It’s definitely rain we needed but it could stop now. “We don’t need it all at once.” Many woke to surface flooding around homes and during the night Gisborne District Council contractors opened the discharge valves to release diluted wastewater to the Taruheru, Waimata and Turanganui rivers from the city sewer network, to avoid sewers flowing back on to private property. Kaiti, Riverdale, St Mary’s and Ngatapa schools, along with several of the city early childhood centres, shut for the day and all city sports grounds are closed until further notice. Trees and many slips are down around the district and affecting roads. Many roads are down to one lane. This morning a car was caught in floodwaters at Rototahi south of Tolaga Bay and a bus, with no children on board, was stuck at the top of the Waimata Valley. People are advised to take extra care on roads as rain continues to fall and rivers north and west of the city rise. At Okitu, Tairawhiti Roads have placed a warning to SH35 users. The highway was closed for a time this morning at the Waihau Beach turnoff through to the Tauwhareparae turnoff at Tolaga Bay. This covers the Rototahi wetland area. Gisborne civil defence was keeping a close eye on rising river levels at Te Karaka late this morning, near where a section of State Highway 2 has been closed by flooding. The highway was closed at the Graham Road turnoff to Te Karaka where over half a metre of floodwater covered the road. Rising floodwaters are expected to flow over the highway at Nisbit Dip, Te Karaka. Evacuation is being considered for Te Karaka residents, Water has been lapping boats near the Anzac Park boat shed. Sand bagging is in progress for one Graham Road resident near the riverbank in inner Kaiti. The Hikuwai River north of Tolaga Bay is stable at 8m and may have peaked. Tolaga Bay and Te Karaka area schools were closed this morning. Several large slips were reported in the Waioeka Gorge. Surface flooding has been reported across wide areas with trees down in many places. Tairawhiti Roads placed speed restrictions at Makorori last night because of surface flooding and has crews out around its roading network to keep an eye on the situation. The fire service had several weather-related callouts — mainly to false alarms and a call for help with domestic flooding at a house in de Lautour Road. The heaviest falls were in the southern half of the Gisborne-East Coast region, from Tolaga Bay to the Whareratas. The dumping came from a low that stalled in the Bay of Plenty and was slow moving off East Cape to sea. Many parts of the district have had well over 100mm overnight and MetService this morning said a heavy rain warning was still in force, with no easing until this evening. Last night MetService predicted totals between 150mm and 200mm by this afternoon, and predicted intensities could reach 20mm to 30mm an hour. East to south-eastern facing country has copped the worst of it, with the council’s rain gauges at Mangapoike reservoir and the Whareratas recording over 180mm up to 9am this morning. Waerenga-o-Kuri, Te Arai and Mangatu catchments had all had almost 160mm by 9am this morning, with Mangatu copping 23mm in the hour to 9am. The Waimata River catchment has also had heavy downpours totalling over 185mm, with a peak of 21mm in the hour between 6am and 7am, and by 9am the Waimata had risen from one metre to 7m.