Taranaki residents battle 'shin-deep water' during thunderstorm
Taryn Utiger said Ōkato streets flooded yesterday, with everyone "battening down the hatches".
Up to 280mm of rain fell over parts of Taranaki over 24 hours, with thunderstorms causing flash flooding, slips and sewage overflows.
Utiger said she had never seen flooding that bad.
"Shin-deep water covering all of our furniture in the garages, firewood stack was completely wet, not what you need for your fire.
"So yeah, a lot of water just flooding down our driveway into the garages," Utiger said.
Hendrik Hofstee owner Chooks Pumping & Engineer, Egmont Village, is in cleanup mode after business affected by heavy rain.
Photo:
RNZ / Robin Martin
In Egmont Village, Hendrik Hofstee said boot-deep water rushed through his workshop in minutes.
"It was just a matter of going through, picking stuff up off the floor, and within probably 10 minutes there was 100 ml going through the whole workshop.
"When you've got a lot of planted equipment and gear and everything else stored on site in a workshop situation, it's not ideal."
Hofstee said at about 3pm the rain came down so heavily stormwater systems just couldn't cope.
He rushed to get electrical equipment off the ground before his business was swamped.
Hofstee reckoned it was shin deep at its worst.
Chooks director Melissa Beford started calling the firm's insurance company yesterday and assessors were planning a visit to check on damage.
Contractors repair a large pothole at Egmont Village after extensive rain in Taranaki.
Photo:
RNZ / Robin Martin
Lettica Shelford, who lives at Egmont village, said State Highway 3 had deep flooding outside her property yesterday.
Traffic slowed to a crawl, and she believes a pothole may have damaged some cars.
Each time a car went through it sent a wave of floodwaters towards her property, but luckily her home was not damaged.
While a lot of flooding receded quickly, Taranaki Emergency Management / Civil Defence is warning people to be careful and avoid travel if they can, with more thunderstorms possible.
Lettica Shelford says the entire SH3 was covered with floodwaters yesterday which gouged a large hole in the road.
Photo:
RNZ / Robin Martin
MetService has forecast widespread showers for the region this afternoon, which could become heavy and thundery with hail.
Taranaki civil defence and emergency management controller Todd Velvin said he was watching how the forecast played out in the next few hours.
"Really got to be cautious how we move around today and what we are looking at. So we are expecting to see heavy falls, but MetService at the moment are saying it shouldn't be as intense as yesterday."
He said widespread slips and flooding had impacted the roading network around the region, with closures and some roads down to a single lane.
State Highway 43 is closed between Whangamona and Taumaranui, SH3 is closed at Awakino Gorge and down to one lane at Mount Messenger, and SH4 is shut between Whanganui and Raetihi.
"Delay your plans if heading north, or look at alternative routes, and if you are going north there are alternate routes down through Bulls or Marton to use State Highway 1."
There have also been several sewage overflows from New Plymouth's wastewater system which the council said may affect public health.
These have occurred at Pukeariki Landing, Ngamotu pump station, Huatoki pump station, Glen Avon pump station, Mangati pump station, Waitara pump station, under Northgate bridge and the Inglewood oxidation pond.
The council is warning people against swimming or collecting food at sites near the stations, and says signs have been put up telling people this.
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