Ngamatapouri locals cut off by flooded Waitotara Valley Road remain unfazed

The Waitotara River breached its banks covering the upper Waitotara Valley Road in several places. Photo: RNZ / Robin Martin

Torrential rain in Taranaki last week caused the upper reaches of the Waitotara River to breach its banks, covering the Waitotara Valley Road in places with debris and silt.

While nowhere near as devastating as the 2004 and 2015 floods, the tiny settlement of Ngamatapouri has been cut-off to all but residents with four-wheel-drive vehicles and the entire road closed down periodically.

The Waitotara Valley Road is recognised as the longest no-exit road in the country, snaking 55 kilometres up from State Highway 3 to Ngamatapouri where it splits into two unsealed tracks headed out into the wilderness.

The 280 millimetres of rain that fell in Taranaki caused the Waitotara River to rise rapidly to 10.5 metres at Waitotara Village, where it was being monitored closely in case an evacuation was required.

Ngamatapouri has been off limits to all but residents with four-wheel drive vehicles this week. Photo: RNZ / Robin Martin

When RNZ visited, arborist Hayden Wildbore was leading a team clearing debris from Waitotara Bridge on the state highway.

"We're setting up to clear the logjam that's sitting under the bridge. I suppose it's just jeopardising the structure of the bridge really the amount of logs underneath it. It seems to have a lot of slash there and big pine and poplar trees all jammed up creating a dam."

It was an involved task.

"We're going to have some aborists abseil off the bridge down onto it so that if it does get swept away they're all tied in and safe and then we've got the crane here to lift the logs out and the digger to load the trucks and ship them out."

The work meant the Waitotara Valley Road, which ran beneath the bridge, is closing until 5pm.

Corrine Kawana, who had travelled down from Ngamatapouri and just managed to get out to visit Whanganui, was not letting the disruption upset her.

"I've been up here 23 years, so this is about the third big flood - not the biggest - but major flood we've had. I just take it in my stride, no use worrying about, eh, that's life."

Sutton Waugh was attempting to drain a small lake which had formed on a freshly sewn paddock she intended to graze cattle on. Photo: RNZ / Robin Martin

About 10km up the road, Sutton Waugh was clearing standing water from a paddock on land she and her husband had only owned for six months.

A former forestry block, she wanted to graze cattle there.

"This has just come up from the last rain and has nowhere to go, so we've hired a mini-excavator to dig a trench and let the water out because we've just sown this. It's new grass seed and it will just die, it will be drowned if we don't get the water off pretty soon."

Dianne Frewin, who has lived on the Waitotara Valley Road most of her life, has scrapbooks full of newsclippings from previous floods. Photo: RNZ / Robin Martin

Dianne Frewin lived 35km up the valley and had done for most of her 69 years.

The latest flooding barely registered with her.

"Oh to me it was just the same as normal, it wasn't as bad as the 2015 flood because it wasn't as high and it came in and we got the power back on about four hours later, so I'm pretty okay."

She said the secret was being prepared.

"I've got a store room. I've got flour, I've got sugar, I've got all the basics that I need to live up here except milk. Usually, I have about six or eight 2-litre containers in the fridge and I'd just been to town because we were going to have a pig hunt competition, so I was fully stocked up."

Frewin, who had scrapbooks filled with news clippings of similar floods, also had a generator and an internet-based phone connection for emergencies.

Scott and Julayne Thompson run beef and sheep at the Rimunui Station with an adventure tourism offering on the side. Photo: RNZ / Robin Martin

Scott and Julayne Thompson run sheep and beef at Rimunui Station a couple of kilometres beyond where the road was closed to everyone but residents.

Scott was on the same page.

"I mean everyone up here, up the valley, is pretty well prepared. We've got generators, you know, and we don't get 2-litres of milk at a time. You have some milk in the freezer or some powdered milk and just plenty of supplies, and, yup, a few candles and a pack of cards."

He said driving on wet, silt-covered roads was not for the faint-hearted.

"Yeah as you've experienced it can be quite entertaining at times, but generally speaking if you've got four-wheel drive and you just take it easy, stick to the centre you'll be pretty right."

South Taranaki District Council had now closed Waitotara Valley Road to everyone except residents until 14 July.

Residents would still have to negotiate NZTA's work clearing debris from the Waitotara River Bridge until Saturday.

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