Township evacuated as rain keeps falling

UPDATED: Amberley Beach has been evacuated as flood waters threaten the tiny township which has been drenched by a storm working its way down the South Island.
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Police and Fire Service personnel were sent to the North Canterbury beach community to get residents out ahead of high tide at 3.20pm.

The settlement, 50km north of Christchurch, has 470 residents, and about 150 had already left this morning.

Two welfare centres have been set up for people who require them at Leithfield School and Amberley Domain.

A Hurunui District Council spokeswoman said parts of the area were under water ahead of high tide.

"Due to the imminent 3.20 pm high tide, the settlement of Amberley Beach is at risk of inundation and Hurunui District Council is evacuating all residents.''

"It's a precautionary evacuation, but we are really concerned about it.''

Further south, emergency personnel were concerned about the small Milford Huts community in coastal south Canterbury.

The huts border the Milford Lagoon which is full and fighting a high tide.

Police fear the next high tide - between 2 and 3am - will be the one of most concern.

It is understood residents will be left to decide for themselves whether to stay or go.

At 4.30pm today Environment Canterbury said the rain was easing and all rivers across the region - apart from the Selwyn - had either peaked or receding. The Selwyn is being monitored and is expected to peak at midnight.

In Kaiapoi plans to evacuate the town of 4500 for a 2.30pm high tide were shelved. 

Waimakariri District Council chief executive Jim Palmer said while there was some surface flooding, there appeared to be little risk of the Kaiapoi River breaking its banks.

"There's still quite a lot of freeboard in the river, 2-3m of freeboard," he said.

"So there's quite a bit of capacity to cope with the effect of high tide (at 2.50pm).

"Provided we don't get heavy rainfall in the the next three hours and that's not anticipated then we should cope reasonably well."

Kaiapoi residents were among the thousands of people across Marlborough, Nelson and West Coast who woke up to chaos today with surface flooding throughout the east coast of the South Island shutting roads and schools.

SH1 has been closed from Woodend to Kaikoura was closed and is impassable in a number of places because of slips and water overrunning bridges. A massive slip just south of Kaikoura has cut the road, the Hurunui Rd bridge on SH1 is under water, and all train services have been cancelled.

Further north, SH1 between Kaikoura and Blenheim reopened at 4.30pm but was down to one lane in many places and motorists were advised to be cautious.

All motorists are being advised to stay off the roads in the Waimakariri District with rain causing serious surface flooding.

Among the casualties on SH1 north of Christchurch was the Southern Links bus service to Picton.

Southern Link Coaches manager Rod Robinson said the eight passengers and driver had been ferried back to Christchurch after the bus fell foul of the flood waters on the way to Picton this morning.

"I believe it's trying to float out to sea or something," he said.

"The driver was following a truck, that was smaller than the bus, and was less than 100m from being back on dry land and suddenly a backwash got it and the motor stopped.

"The passengers were rescued by a passing truck and they're all back in Christchurch now."
However, they were not able to rescue their luggage.

Further south run-off from paddocks has closed State Highway One between Ashburton and Rakaia and, further south, snow has closed State Highway 8 between Fairlie and Twizel.

There were reports of several vehicles leaving the road at Burkes Pass.

Mackenzie District Council services manager Bernie Haar said graders had been deployed since first light, with 200mm of snow at Tekapo, 50 to 75mm through the Rollesby Valley near Burkes Pass, and about 150mm on the Meikleburn Saddle inland from Fairlie.

Haar said crews were checking reports of flooding on the Middle Valley Road at Raincliff in inland South Canterbury.

Roads around Kimbell near Fairlie were running with water.

"There's a lot of surface flooding this side of the pass ( Burkes Pass),'' Haar said.

Timaru District Council manager Ashley Harper said all major roads in the district were open and there were no significant problems but the situation was beinfg watched closely.

In Ashburton, roading manager David Robertson said the approaches to bridges on the Hinds River at Hackthorne, Winslow and Boundary roads had been washed out and the bridges would be closed in the forseeable future.

There was a lot of surface flooding and the Ashburton River was well up.

He urged all drivers to take care.

The Waihi River in Geraldine was full this morning, and low-lying paddocks were under water between Geraldine and Orari Bridge.

Schools throughout North Canterbury, including Rangiora High School, have been shut and police are advising people to stay home and avoid unnecessary travel.

In Christchurch city surface flooding is getting worse with local creeks breaking their banks after 50mm of rain drenched the city overnight.

Ilam School in Christchurch has been shut because of surface flooding.

Snow has closed the main road between Fairlie and Twizel in the Mackenzie, and wild weather is lashing South Canterbury.

The small Waihi River in Geraldine is near bursting point, and all rivers in the area are up.

Environment Canterbury is warning that southerly winds and extra inflow from the Selwyn and Halswell rivers could cause Lake Ellesmere to breach its banks putting the Selwyn huts at risk, and possibly SH75 between Christchurch and Akaroa.

The authority was working to open Lake Ellesmere to the sea when conditions permitted.

Roads around Amberley have been affected by surface flooding, and 12 residents at Sefton near Rangiora have been evacuated to the local school hall.

Rangiora’s Northbrook Museum has 6cm to 8cm of water running through it.

A team of helpers is now working to lift all the items up into safety.

Meanwhile Sefton residents evacuated from their homes at about 3am this morning were allowed home at 8.30am.

Young couple Chauntel Kentish and Regan Murray woke in the early hours to water flowing through their Upper Sefton house they had just moved into five days ago.

"We heard dripping and thought it was coming off the roof,’’ said Kentish.

When they stepped out of bed the carpets were floating, the blankets that had slipped off the bed were sodden and personal items were floating around the rooms.

"Everything is pretty much munted,’’ said Murray.

They were evacuated to the Sefton Cricket Club's pavilion by the Woodend Fire Brigade.

Andy Reeves, who was also evacuated as water began to flow through garages at the Railway Street home he is looking after for his in-laws, said he was evacuated just after 3am.

He was anxious to return home to shift horses to higher ground and to check out his rental property in Rangiora where there had been reports of raw sewerage flowing past.

The state of emergency was lifted in Marlborough this afternoon as the region recovered from serious flooding.

Dozens of Picton people were evacuated yesterday, and police and volunteers laid sandbags to keep floodwaters out of the town centre.

Rain was still falling in Marlborough last night, with the ranges behind Kaikoura receiving more than 15mm an hour in places.

The Alexanders Holiday Park a motor camp in Picton with several permanent residents was evacuated. Thirty people from the park joined at least 35 Picton residents who were forced to leave their homes to spend the night at Queen Charlotte College.

Volunteers laid sandbags around the affected houses in an attempt to prevent further damage.

The town was lashed by wind and rain yesterday. Gale-force winds were still being reported last night.

Senior Constable Russ Smith said there were concerns for emergency workers as well as residents. "At least one house had its roof torn off," he said. "It's very dangerous."

In Nelson, a lack of water was the problem.

Ferocious wind gusts brought down trees and caused major damage to the water pipeline supplying the city.

Nelson residents have been asked to use as little water as possible in the next two or three days and to avoid flushing toilets, taking showers or using washing machines.

Savage winds hit the West Coast, particularly around Greymouth, where gusts up to 150km/h uprooted trees and ripped iron from roofs.

Late last night the storm began moving into Canterbury, where heavy rain is expected throughout today, easing tonight.

MetService forecasters last night warned of a high risk of flooding in parts of Canterbury already saturated by rain over the past week, and also of slips on the foothills.

Severe-weather forecaster Andy Downs said last night: "It's going to be a wet old day. The rain is going to be going strongly in the morning and it's not until evening we should see an easing trend. We're still going with that idea of up to 150mm around the foothills, and along the coast up to 60mm.

"This is a classic pattern for flooding. These sorts of numbers can lead to a lot of water and slips on the hills. There is potential there for sure for flooding," he said. "These are only forecasts. They're not written in stone, but people need to be aware a lot of rain is going to fall and be cautious."

About 7pm, the Hurunui District Council closed the inland road from State Highway 1 north of Cheviot to Waiau because of flooding and the risk of slips.

Roading engineer John Kerse said motorists should not travel in North Canterbury unless necessary. "This is torrential rain sitting right over us at the moment and there is the potential that resulting surface flooding could put motorists at a very high risk."

The Ministry of Education said the following schools had been closed:

Windwhistle; Hinds; Greta Valley; Oxford area; Amberley; Sefton; Rangiora High; Rangiora New Life; Kaiapoi High; Leithfield; Ilam; Swannanoa; Cheviot Area; and Tuahiwi.