Latest news with #TasmanDistrict
RNZ News
18-07-2025
- Climate
- RNZ News
Kaiteriteri campground flood victims count cost of storm damage
Bethany Park Campground received nearly 500mm of rain between two recent storms. 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.
RNZ News
17-07-2025
- Climate
- RNZ News
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.
RNZ News
15-07-2025
- Climate
- RNZ News
Tasman flooding: Council says most of its annual budget spent in a fortnight
About 40 roads remain closed in the Tasman District following widespread flooding and slips. Photo: Supplied/ Jodie Reed The Tasman District Council says most of its annual budget has been spent in a fortnight after being ravaged by heavy rain and flooding. The clean-up has been continuing in the waterlogged district following a month of historic rainfall, culminating in last week's destructive storm that has caused widespread damage. The costs have already been swelling with up to $500,000 being absorbed daily on fixing the local roading network. The state of emergency is expected to be lifted on Thursday ahead of a one-month recovery transition period. The council's community infrastructure and group recovery manager Richard Kirby told Morning Report the district 's infrastructure was facing a repair bill of "between $20-25 million". He said about 40 roads remain shut. "Up to 200 people, about 15 heavy machines and trucks, all over the district opening roads," he said. "Hopefully we'll have them open in the next couple of weeks." The most arduous obstacle for council contractors was the type of material they had to shift, particularly in the Motueka Valley. "It's just like porridge slipping off the hills. As soon as they push it more comes down," Kirby said. "That's an ongoing challenge. It's all on at the moment." There were further challenges underneath slips where roads had been washed out, and bridge approaches, Kirby said. In Kaiteriteri, a geotechnical assessment was needed to ensure a slip could be stabilised and the damaged road beneath could be reinstated. Kirby said the busier roads presented the biggest challenges, compared to the quieter back-country roads. He later told RNZ that the annual budget would likely be all gone by next month. Earlier on Morning Report, he said the council would be requesting financial assistance from the New Zealand Transport Agency. "We'll be making a bid to NZTA and seeing if we can get some extra subsidy. "Although we're opening roads, we still have to go back and do permanent repairs. That'll probably take 18 months or even two years to complete." The council said the critical stopbank in the Motueka Valley had "held up really" well following government-funded upgrades. Some erosion of stopbanks had occurred in Tapawera area on the Motueka and Motupiko rivers. "The river teams are up there just to see what urgent areas need repaired in the event we have another rainfall," Kirby said. "They're prioritising what work they need to do to get some resilience into those riverbanks." An apple orchard has flooded on SH60 in Motueka. Photo: SAMUEL RILLSTONE / RNZ A fruit and vegetable delivery company is warning of a spike to the cost of vegetables around the country following the destructive weather. Produce prices would sharply increase in the coming months due to the knock on effects of widespread flooding, particularly in the Tasman district last week. Co-founder of fruit and vegetable rescue company Wonky Box Angus Simms told Morning Report the effects would not be felt for another two to three months. After a string of bad weather in recent weeks across the top of the South, growers have reported a delay in planting, he said. "The immediate effects we haven't necessarily seen. Growers have been able to get into fields, they've been able to harvest. They've been able to make that work. "Whereas actual planting delays will be happening here which is going to have an ongoing effect later on down the line." Simms said the shortage would be likely be seen with green vegetables such as cauliflower and broccoli, and less so with root vegetables. Produce had begun to "steady out" at a retail level following Cyclone Gabrielle. "What we're seeing in the green space already is greens are slowing and values are coming back for growers," Simms said. Fruit production is considered a jewel in the Tasman district's local economy and a major export industry. Harvesting of fruit products including apples and pears finished a few months ago, Simms said. "Anything that's already been picked and harvested has been stored," he said. "The products that have been stored tend to be safe." Some fruit growers were facing repairs of their infrastructure ahead of next season, Simms said. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
15-07-2025
- Climate
- RNZ News
Clean up continues for Tasman District in wake of widespread flood damage
Jim Papps standing in front of one of his tractors following bad weather in Tasman District. Photo: Samantha Gee / RNZ Throughout the Tasman District, the clean up continues after two floods caused widespread damage to homes, businesses, farms and orchards. For Jim Papps, that's meant scraping mud off the driveway of his Dovedale home and out of his sheds, for the second time in as many weeks. Papps and his wife Maureen built their home near the Dove River in 1954 and said they've never seen anything like what happened in the last three weeks. They've experienced flooding before, but this was on a different scale. "[It's] the biggest flood that we've ever seen, we've had some big floods that have come over the paddock here a few times but this one was the biggest one. Well, it was two floods." Papps' collection of 14 old tractors are surrounded by silt and sludge. His workshop has a layer of mud through it and there is wood and other debris still strewn across the yard. One of Jim Papps tractors stuck in the mud at his Dovedale home following the floods. Photo: Samantha Gee / RNZ The couple have spent the last few days scraping mud and silt off their property, retrieving items that floated downstream and clearing up debris. During the first flood, just over three weeks ago, Papps said he woke in the early hours of the morning and went to check on the river level. "I got up and shone a spotlight out the toilet window and I couldn't believe what I was seeing, the water was flowing through the yard... and I knew darn well then that it would have been going in our carport down the bottom." He then went to check on his neighbour, Paul Harper, who for the last 20 years or so had lived in a house bus between the couple's home and the river. "[Harper] was standing on the porch at the back of his house bus and he was panicking because he couldn't get out, the water was that swift and deep between the shed and his house bus," Papps said. Papps said the volume of water rushing through the property made quite a lot of noise. Jim Papps and his neighbour Paul Harper on their property next to the Dove River, in Dovedale. Photo: Samantha Gee / RNZ "I shouted out to him and said, 'I'll get the tractor and come round and bring you out on that', which I got in the bucket of the loader and I brought him out." Harper said when he awoke and opened the back door of his house truck, he wondered if he was going to get swept away. "I looked at that water and I thought, there is no way I can step into force of it was just absolutely frightening. "If it wasn't for the neighbours and for the family here, I reckon I could have bloody died." Papps and Harper moved the truck away from the river the following week when further heavy rain was forecast and Harper then missed the second flood last Friday, as he'd left in the morning to get some milk and by the time he came back, the roads were closed. The flood also washed out the approach to the nearby Cowin Bridge, and has left a huge lagoon in part of the nearby Dove River that was once a paddock. Mud and silt at Jim Papps home in Dovedale. Photo: Samantha Gee / RNZ On both occasions, Harper said was fortunate not to get water inside the truck, with it flowing only an inch or so below the floor. But his tool shed and wood store had been completely washed away and since Friday, he'd been cleaning up, non-stop. He was feeling, tired, burnt out and frightened. "Every time it rains, my cat disappears, I'm wide awake, and it's like, oh no, not again and it could only be just a few spits." Harper already had plans to move to Oamaru next month, but said the floods had pushed that out as he needed to dig his truck out and get it going again. "I won't park beside a river ever again, bloody way." Debris by the side of the Dove River in Dovedale. Photo: Samantha Gee / RNZ A helicopter landed in the paddock beside the couple's home on Tuesday, with Nelson Tasman Civil Defence checking in on their welfare. Civil Defence visited about 300 properties in Tasman on Monday as they continued to survey flood damage. Teams on Tuesday were focused on Graham Valley, Rocky River, Mārahau, Thorpe, Golden Downs, Tapawera, and Ngātīmoti. The state of emergency in Nelson Tasman will be lifted on Thursday, as the battered area moves into a one-month transition period. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
14-07-2025
- Climate
- RNZ News
DOC closes access to parks and tracks following Tasman storm
A slip on the Abel Tasman Coastal Track between Mārahau and Anchorage. Photo: Department of Conservation / supplied Slips and storm damage have cut off access to the Kahurangi National Park from the Tasman District, and part of Abel Tasman Coast Track is temporarily closed. Nelson and Tasman remain in a state of emergency after the top of the South Island was battered by record rainfall last week. Department of Conservation (DOC) said storm damage to DOC-managed sites was widespread and it would take time to understand the full extent across conservation areas and facilities. DOC Northern South Island operations director Martin Rodd said the Motueka area seemed to be the hardest hit. "In Kahurangi National Park, there's no access to Flora car park as Graham Valley Road is closed, as a section has been undercut by the river. "This closure is expected to be in place for some time. Flora car park is commonly used to access the region's most popular alpine walks including Wharepapa/Mt Arthur tracks and huts. "The access road into the Cobb Valley has several large slips across it and is impassable, and access to the Wangapeka is closed by the wider flood response. This means all access roads to the southeastern part of the Kahurangi are closed." Abel Tasman Coast Track was being assessed as a priority and one section had been temporarily closed. "Due to cracking on the track, the southern section between Mārahau and Anchorage has been temporarily closed for safety while we have a damage assessment done. This will happen in the coming days. "At the northern end, the access road to Tōtaranui is also closed due to slips. We've had reports of some small slips, treefall and other minor impacts on other parts of the track which we will tidy up when we can. "Heaphy Track remains open but there is some minor damage, and anyone using the track once it has dried out should take extra care." DOC asked people to delay their trips until the tracks had had a chance to dry out. "The situation is changing rapidly and people should check DOC's website for up-to-date information about particular huts and tracks," Rodd said. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
