Helicopter rescues 120 trampers

A helicopter lifted 120 trampers to safety from the flood-hit Milford Track near Te Anau yesterday.

Forty New Zealand and overseas trampers were stranded in each of the Clinton, Mintaro and Dumpling huts on the track.

They were flown out throughout yesterday to Milford and Te Anau.

Department of Conservation (DOC) recreation programme manager Ross Kerr said each of the huts had a helicopter landing site, so there was no need to winch anyone out.

The operation went "like clockwork".

Heavy rain and strong winds on Sunday forced the department to close the popular walking track from Lake Te Anau to Milford Sound.

Kerr said 252 millimetres of rain fell at the Dumpling Hut at the Milford end of the track on Sunday, and he estimated 250mm fell yesterday.

The heavy rain led to severe flooding, with water over head height in some sections of the track, he said.

Winds of up to 100kmh were recorded on the MacKinnon Pass.

Kerr said that with the bad weather likely to continue, it was decided to fly out the trampers.

They had been kept at the huts on Sunday night for safety.

DOC covered the airlift's cost from a contingency fund because it was an unforeseen situation that was no-one's fault, Kerr said.

"We don't have to use it that often because in most cases people can wade through the water," he said.

A metre of rain fell in nine days at the Dumpling Hut in the first week of January, but trampers were able to wade through the water.

"But in this incident, we've had significant falls and 20mm to 30mm an hour, so there's just water everywhere."

- © Fairfax NZ News