Kaiteriteri campground flood victims count cost of storm damage
Photo:
RNZ/Samantha Gee
Mud is still being scraped out from around caravans, vehicles and buildings in a Kaiteriteri campground, a week after heavy rain caused widespread flooding in the Tasman District.
Bethany Park Campground manager Roger Armstrong estimated the area received nearly 500 millimetres of rain between the two recent storms. The camp survived the first flood on 27 June unscathed, but last Friday was a different story.
He said several gullies at the back of the Kaiteriteri property fed into a creek that ran through the campsite.
"All three main gullies had big slips, and there was timber, pine trees amongst that and they basically dammed up, until they burst. It was the bursting of those slips that caused the excessive amount of water down the creek.
"Had we not had the slips, I think we probably would have managed it quite happily."
The flood left 150mm of mud across parts of the Bethany Park Campground.
Photo:
RNZ
Once the water receded, it left about 150mm of mud across the lower parts of the camp, with more timber and silt up the back of the site. A week on, mud was still being scraped up and carted away, with the clean-up likely to take another few weeks.
Armstrong said six cabins and about three occupied caravans had water through them, and one cabin was likely a write-off, but no other buildings were affected. Of about 50 caravans stored at the camp, more than half had been damaged.
One couple, Marguerite Besier and Roger Croft, had to be rescued from their caravan, as floodwaters rose last Friday.
Besier said she watched the puddles outside slowly get bigger, then the water started to rise rapidly and the couple knew they had to leave.
Croft opened the door and stepped down into water that was almost waist deep, telling Besier she needed to follow him.
"Then, my wedding dress from 1979 bobbed past, with the freezer swirling around behind it, spewing out all our frozen goods," she said. "'Here goes my pack of spinach, oh, there goes my soup', all going round and round and round in a great big whirlpool in the middle of the awning, along with lots of debris, grass and sticks and logs.
Marguerite Besier and Roger Croft had to be rescued from their caravan by a frontend loader.
Photo:
RNZ/Samantha Gee
"It was just like a great big disaster soup."
The couple's Huntaway cross dog - a rescue named Jack - jumped into the water and swam to a frontend loader that had come to their aid, and the couple followed him into the bucket.
Many of the camp's other residents stood atop a nearby bank, watching the rescue and cheering when the couple made it to safety.
They've since stayed at a cabin at the camp, and have been inundated with clothing, food and support from friends and other residents.
Besier was gobsmacked when she saw their caravan the next day, surrounded by mud. Their insurance company has yet to assess it, but she suspects it and their car will be a write-off.
The couple moved from Canterbury to Kaiteriteri in February, with the plan to retire in a tiny home in the region Besier considers her tūrangawaewae (place where one belongs).
Despite the rain, that's still their plan. Their tiny home will be ready within the next month and, with additional re-inforcing, will be put on the same site their caravan was.
Besier was pragmatic about adapting to cope with future weather events.
"The only way we can do it is by working together and helping each other," she said. "It's the only way we're going to survive, just accept that this is how it is.
"This is our swansong, this is where we want to be."
Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero
,
a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles

RNZ News
16 hours ago
- RNZ News
Thousands of households regain power after outage in Wellington region
Photo: 123RF Power has been restored in Porirua after an outage affecting about 5000 properties on Saturday morning. The outage coincided with a frosty Saturday morning. Lines company Wellington Electricity said the power was cut about 9.40am due to a problem at the Mana zone substation. It said crews worked on the problem and managed to get it back on at about midday. Properties in Paremata, Papakowhai, Camborne, Whitby, Titahi Bay, Pauatahanui, Plimmerton, Porirua City Centre and Aotea were affected. MetService's website shows it wasa still, frosty morning in the area, and it was about 4 degrees Celsius when the power went out. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.

RNZ News
18 hours ago
- RNZ News
Thousands of households without power in Wellington region
Photo: 123RF About 5000 properties in Porirua, north of Wellington, are without power on a frosty Saturday morning. Lines company Wellington Electricity said the power was cut about 9.40am due to a problem at the Mana zone substation. It said crews were working to fix the problem and it hoped to restore power by 12.40pm Saturday. Properties in Paremata, Papakowhai, Camborne, Whitby, Titahi Bay, Pauatahanui, Plimmerton, Porirua City Centre and Aotea are affected. MetService's website shows it's been a still, frosty morning in the area, and it was about 4 degrees Celsius when the power went out. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.

RNZ News
2 days ago
- RNZ News
Freezing start around the country causes crashes, halts trains in Wellington
Icy roads in Dunedin's hill suburbs on Thursday. Photo: RNZ / Tess Brunton Icy conditions have caused multiple crashes and suspended some trains in the capital on Friday morning. Parts of the country are waking up to freezing temperatures this morning as a cold snap strikes. At the start of the day it was minus three degrees in Christchurch and Masterton, minus two in Tīmaru, Hamilton and Rotorua, and minus one in Taupō, Napier, Blenheim and Queenstown. There were "significant disruptions" on the capital's train services, Metlink said. Icy conditions meant the trains could not draw power from the lines, a spokesperson said. Kāpiti line services were suspended, and there were disruptions and delays on the Hutt Valley and Wairarapa lines. "Metlink is providing bus replacements where possible and service alerts have been sent alerting passengers of the situation and the lack of capacity on buses," it said. "Once the day warms, it's likely normal services will resume." The police are urging Bay of Plenty drivers to extra care on the roads in the region. A person has been critically injured following a serious crash in Atiamuri, partially closing State Highway 30. "There have been a number of crashes across the region already this morning with ice creating dangerous driving conditions," police said. "Please - slow down, watch your following distance, and use your headlights." ☀️Clear skies and freeeeezzzing temperatures continue across the country, but cloud looms to the west. This Infrared Satellite ️ image shows most of the country is still in the clear this morning, however, thin wispy high cloud is sitting over parts of Northland, as well… Driving conditions are expected to be hazardous in many parts of the South Island over the next few days. Police say black ice has already formed in some areas and road surfaces are especially dangerous in shaded areas and on bridges. While it was -1deg Celsius in Invercargill on Friday morning, Rakiura Stewart Island - less than 30km across Foveaux Strait - clocked double digits. MetService meterologist Devlin Lynden said the stark difference in temperatures between the two centres is a phenomenon called low level inversion - when it's unexpectedly warmer at higher elevations. He said that was because cool air was heavier and sank at night, pooling in low lying areas like Invercargill. That doesn't happen on Rakiura because it's more exposed. A band of cloud is also acting as insulation on the island - and it's windier, mixing air from different altitudes. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.