Latest news with #MaryArgue
RNZ News
05-08-2025
- Lifestyle
- RNZ News
The colour black: A longstanding Kiwi fashion staple
It's long been a fashion staple, and it only takes a look to many of our sports teams or fashion designers to see New Zealanders have long had a love affair with the colour black. In our capital's recycle boutiques - black is the colour above all else that dominates. It even appears to be more popular than usual. Mary Argue reports. To embed this content on your own webpage, cut and paste the following: See terms of use.
RNZ News
23-07-2025
- RNZ News
One person dead after house fire in New Plymouth
emergency services national 31 minutes ago One person has died in a house fire in New Plymouth on Wednesday night. Reporter Mary Argue spoke to Corin Dann.
RNZ News
14-07-2025
- Climate
- RNZ News
Uninsured $80,000 digger smashed in Tasman storm
McEnroe and his mangled digger worth about $80,000. Photo: RNZ / Mary Argue Byron McEnroe is counting his blessings despite the complete destruction of an uninsured $80,000 digger. As the storm battered Tasman last week , the torrent of water and slash picked up the massive machine and sent it tumbling down his rural block. The digger cut a path through his property, where only a month ago a friend had been staying in a motorhome. "For the last five years we had an old guy living in a motorhome just here on the other side of the digger, and moved him out about a month ago - pretty happy about that, because I don't think he would have survived," McEnroe said. "This all happened in the dark, that digger would have been coming through the side of his little bus before he even knew about it. So, it could've been worse." It was the second time the Tasman district had been battered by torrential rain in a fortnight. Residents in the Motueka Valley were shell-shocked by the destruction after record rainfall once again triggered a state of emergency. McEnroe fought back tears as he surveyed the damage left by Friday's deluge. "The rain was just unreal, the water and the power of it... it's terrible." He suspected forestry logs from a block up behind his driveway had become stuck in what was normally a trickle of a creek bed - and like in many other parts of Tasman - built up a lake of water behind it. Parrish Hurley next to what was once a "trickle" of a stream. Photo: RNZ / Mary Argue "[It] just exploded and came down in a big hurry." The flash-flood that was released gouged out the earth - 6m deep in some places - and sent his five-tonne uninsured digger spinning 100m downhill in a cascade of silt and debris the rain for hundreds of metres more. "Completely written it off, and I need it now... now more than ever. I don't really know what I'm going to do about it yet, it's got no future there." McEnroe grew up in the valley, and had lived there for more than a decade after returning as an adult. He was still struggling to come to grips with what had happened, and was visibly relieved the carnage was not fatal. The trail of debris that cascaded through McEnroe's property and across the road started in a forestry block up the back. Photo: RNZ / Mary Argue The recent rainfall had sent the whole district back to square one, undoing all the effort and work to repair the damage caused by widespread flooding two weeks ago, McEnroe said. "So much hard work, all just gone - it's worse this time. People's mental health will be deteriorating pretty bad at the moment. That's the biggest worry, but you got to keep your chin up and carry on." Since Friday's deluge, he had been working furiously to repair the driveway to his mother's property just north of Ngātīmoti, after a flash-flood carrying boulders and forestry logs cut off access to her a kilometre from her home. Monday was the first time his mum - who was in her 70s - had seen people in days, McEnroe said. Byron McEnroe and friend Parrish Hurley have spent the past couple of days working to repair the driveway to McEnroe's mother's house. Photo: RNZ / Mary Argue Friend and fourth-generation local Parrish Hurley suspected the clean-up this time would take months, if not years, and the scale of it was hard to comprehend. The last two hours of rain sealed their fate, he said. "The devastation is incredible, when people actually get to see it. It's all very well flying over in a helicopter, but it's nothing like being on the ground and looking at it, and being amongst it first hand. It's unbelievable." Despite the mess in front of him, Hurley said many others were worse off, pointing out a farmer across the road who had lost "half the back of his farm" when the Motueka River burst its banks. "[That] was a paddock, where he used to run his sheep .. and now it's just gone. Totally gone. "It's not going to be a quick fix. People are already on their hands and knees because they're struggling with the economy and everything, and I just don't believe a lot of people have got money left in their pockets to fix things up." Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
11-07-2025
- Climate
- RNZ News
Weather update from Nelson Tasman
weather Tasman 7:07 am today A state of emergency remains in place in Nelson Tasman after more heavy rain. RNZ's Mary Argue is on the ground in Riwaka just outside of Nelson and she talks to Mihingarangi Forbes about how locals are coping in the face of more evacuations.
RNZ News
11-07-2025
- Climate
- RNZ News
Nelson Tasman floods: Multiple reports of people trapped, power out as rain smashes the region
Many locals in Brooklyn are flocking to the evacuation hub as heavy rain hits the region. Photo: Mary Argue / RNZ Fire and Emergency is responding to multiple reports of people trapped by floodwaters in the Nelson Tasman region. Some people are stuck in their homes and others in their cars, in many places around Motueka, FENZ said. In Mārahau, two people were trapped by floodwater, Nelson Tasman Civil Defence group controller Alec Louverdis said. They were no in danger but they were facing a night in isolation due to the flooding, Louverdis said. He said the region was being smashed by rain and the situation had changed drastically in the past 40 minutes. The situation in the region is "absolutely hectic", he said. His message to residents was to stay out of any water and to not travel. In Riwaka, about 20 residents were spending the night at an evacuation hub. But the Riwaka Memorial Hall lost power about 4.30pm just as residents were beginning to arrive for the night. Brooklyn residents and neighbours Ellie Henderson and Nadine Fletcher are among those spending the night at the evacuation hub and said they made the right call. Water had been gradually rising, but is now a river from one side of her cottage to the other. "I wasn't worried at first, but when the rubbish bin floated away and various things began moving ... we decided to work together and move when the time was right," she said. "Suddenly, the time was right when the water rose really fast. "The rain started getting heavier, and it looked worse than it had ever been before, so it was worrying, but I'm not worried now, because we're in a safe place." Because she lives on her own, she said the thought of leaving after dark was a little scary. Henderson said her neighbour's car had water almost to the top of its wheels, but because hers was slightly higher, they were able to "make an escape". Fletcher said, a couple of weeks ago, the heavy rain was just puddling, but now it was "a lot higher, and flowing through the property". Meanwhile, large parts of the Tasman District - including all of Motueka and Golden Bay - lost power about 4.20pm. Lines company Network Tasman said it would try to restore electricity to Golden Bay on Friday evening, but with strong winds and road closures making it dangerous for crews, it would likely stay off overnight. Network Tasman couldn't confirm how many properties were affected, but said it would be in the thousands.
