The rain stopped but the road slips continued yesterday after buckets of rain hit Wairarapa’s coastal areas on Wednesday.
At 10.30am yesterday, there were 10 roads listed as closed by the Masterton District Council, and five were damaged.
The Masterton-Castlepoint Rd was closed due to a tree down between Bute and Langdale Rd. Traffic was diverted over Blairlogie Langdale and Langdale Road.
Tinui resident Caryl Forrest said people should only travel if absolutely necessary.
“It will take a long time to dry out. There’s mud everywhere,” she said
“The rain stopped Wednesday afternoon. There will be no more flooding, but there could be more trees down.”
The road between Riversdale and Homewood was also closed due to a fallen tree.
Homewood farmer Marty Byl said residents were cut off.
“The roads are completely impassable. We can’t go anywhere. If we really had to get out, we would have to get someone with a car to meet on the other side of the pine tree.”
He hopes the roads will be restored soon but understands many need fixing.
The flooding caused some damage to Byl’s farm.
“We watched the Kaiwhata River get higher and higher towards the wool shed, and then the rain stopped.
“We had more rain than the rain gauge could cope with, over 150mm of rain. The river burst its banks and ruined the roads and the fences. There are kilometres of fencing that’ve gone into the river.
“There’s silt all over the paddock. I was meant to mow the paddock for silage in a few days but can’t do that anymore.”
Byl’s neighbour has suffered devastating damage: “Andy Tatham’s rivers diverted all over his crops. There’s a concrete bridge between here and Riversdale that is washed out.”
Castlepoint had the country’s highest volume of rainfall on Wednesday with 98mm, while Masterton ranked fourth highest with 34mm, according to Metservice.
Powerco recorded three power cuts in the region yesterday, including Flat Point [south of Riversdale], which was cut off at 10.30pm on Wednesday after debris blew into the powerlines. It was restored 15 hours later.
Mataikona lost its power at noon yesterday, with 114 customers affected. Powerco said crews believed the cuts were wind-related.
Whareama was cut off at 12.40pm yesterday, after trees blew into the powerlines. Eighty-two customers were affected.
Homewood Storeroom chef Paddy Tatham said the cafe was forced to close, with no reopening date, after a washout at the bridge on Homewood Rd.
“The concrete is continuing to chip away, and water is flowing underneath it.”
He said 95 per cent of the café’s customers used the bridge route, but what remained looked too dangerous to walk across.
