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Stopbanks urgently being repaired in Tasman district ahead of more wet weather

The Motueka River following the two recent flooding events. Photo: SUPPLIED Flood damaged river stopbanks are being urgently repaired by Tasman District Council ahead of more wet weather that was forecast for the end of the month. The region has been slammed with two major floods in the past two weeks and Earth Sciences New Zealand is forecasting more wet weather for later in July and into early August. The council's river manager David Arseneau told RNZ a key priority was fixing an area of stopbank at the top of the Wai-iti River. "The whole stopbank just got scoured out over about 150 metres or so, we are actively out there rebuilding firstly the ground that the stopbank used to be on, and then the stopbank - before the next weather event comes in," he said. Council workers had been out in boats surveying the river network and assessing the damage. Another area that had been hit was on the Motueka River around Peach Island, where the stopbanks overtopped. The Motueka River in flood. Photo: SUPPLIED "They've survived and stood up. So right now we are planning out what that repair job looks like and also looking forward to an upgrade and strengthening... it's the same with the Brooklyn stop banks as well," he said. In many areas of the Tasman District, rivers have massively widened and realigned through paddocks and farms, Arseneau said. "In the short term we are just not going to be able to solve those issues on any kind of scale before the next flood or the flood after that. "It's a multi-year recovery that we are looking at for property damage and the impacts on our rural communities." The rivers had completely changed, he said. "They are no longer the rivers they were three or four weeks ago. When big events like this come along, the rivers flex, adapt and change... then they'll hopefully be relatively stable for a few decades." The Wai-iti River in recent days. Photo: SUPPLIED The Nelson Tasman region had begun transitioning from a state of emergency into recovery mode . As of Wednesday, 10 homes have been red stickered, 42 yellow stickered and 48 white stickered, which meant further assessment was needed. Nelson Tasman Civil Defence is providing accommodation for 12 people following both floods. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.