Tsunami alert causes Whakatane traffic snarl

Tsunami in Samoa

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JOHN SELKIRK Zoom

The stench of rotting flesh is overpowering along the stretch of coast devastated by the Tsunami.

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Hundreds of Whakatane and Ohope residents heading for high ground this morning snarled traffic after New Zealand was put on tsunami alert.

Police and fire services had to be called to manage traffic congestion on the Ohope hill around 10.30 this morning.

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But the tsunami residents had been expecting failed to eventuate.

Joseph Marks said he had been expecting "a big tsunami."

"But I haven't seen nothing yet."

Not everyone heeded the warnings though - five people remained on Ohope Beach as all others evacuated.

The tsunami caused by a powerful 8.3 earthquake off Samoa this morning caused widespread destruction and many deaths in Samoa.

Elsewhere, a motelier in the East Cape town of Hicks Bay says locals gathered at her motel ahead of the anticipated tsunami.

Jody Anderson said locals had come up to the motel she owned with her husband, which was on the bluff overlooking the bay, and sitting on an outside deck to see the tsunami - but there had been no sign yet.

"People are still in the shop buying teas and coffees and photos and bread and milk, a few basics but not too much," she said.

"I think I'm the only one panicked. The locals aren't panicked at all."

Gisborne freelance photojournalist Diana Dobson was among residents who moved to higher ground this morning, along with her mother and seven-year-old daughter.

But as she drove her mother from her beachfront property, she said they passed the beach car-park, where half a dozen cars were parked with occupants watching and waiting for a tsunami to arrive.

"It's low tide and the sea looks almost glassy," she told NZPA.

Gisborne District Council advised at 10.16am that no waves had been reported at Te Araroa, 10km southeast of Hicks Bay, or anywhere else on the East Coast.

Senior Constable Ray Dever of Tolaga Bay, about 50km northeast of Gisborne, said he started the East Coast town's evacuation plan until the tsunami alert was downgraded.

"We have a fairly comprehensive plan and earlier on we were evacuating elderly residents and others not that mobile," he told NZPA.

"Then the situation was downgraded to a metre surge and that is only really a concern for people on the beach and lower reaches of the river mouth. So I've told people if they want to go they can go, or they can stay put.

"It is dead low tide so there's probably a little bit more margin than if there's a metre wave on top of high tide."

Mr Dever said Tolaga Bay was at extreme risk in the event of a big tsunami because it was low-lying and also had a river behind the township.

He said people had been evacuated from other townships in the area, including Tokomaru Bay.

- with NZPA

- © Fairfax NZ News