Tasman residents face huge clean-up after homes inundated with flood waters

RNZ News

8 hours ago

Tasman residents outside of the village of Wakefield are facing up to the damage left by flooding that drenched the region just over a week ago.
Nelson Tasman Civil Defence said it had moved to a transition period, from a state of emergency into a recovery focus.
Since the flooding, 15 homes have been yellow stickered and one has been red stickered. They were in the Motueka Valley, Tapawera and Wai-iti.
Just outside of Wakefield, some residents were still reeling from the effects of the floodwaters.
A dehumidifier runs inside a home that was drenched during the flood event in the Tasman District.
Photo:
RNZ/Marika Khabazi
Charla Stratford had only lived in her home for 19 months with seven other family members, which included her parents and husband, prior to it being completely flooded out.
Stratford told RNZ that when the flood happened the water was up past the sole of a shoe level.
"We are splashing inside, and it's just like we have got to go. So, apparently when we left, it went down but then it came back up again really quick," she said.
A damaged bed is upturned outside a flooded home.
Photo:
RNZ/Marika Khabazi
When RNZ entered her home on Monday all its carpet and lino had been stripped and some of its floorboards had curved from the water.
Areas of the building smelt damp and there was a loud constant sound of dehumidifiers going 24/7.
A large skip bin was out front for items that needed to be binned.
"I got told anything that touched black water had to be thrown out, so we've just thrown what we've had to out," Stratford said.
She believed if a nearby culvert was widened, her house wouldn't be flooded out.
"It [the water] was coming over sideways from that culvert creek there and if that was bigger, we wouldn't have this issue," Stratford said.
Inside a home that was flooded outside the village of Wakefield in the Tasman District.
Photo:
RNZ/Marika Khabazi
Julian Edmonds had been living on his property since the last major flood in the area in 1983.
The floodwater was so high around his property that it ripped up gravel on his driveway and surrounded his home.
The water line could still be seen on his driveway and fences near his home were still filled with debris.
On the day of the flood, he woke up at four in the morning after his neighbour called and he could hear the water.
"I got up and walked out, got to the backdoor and thought, no I am not going out in that," he said.
He said the culvert on his property [separate to one near Charla's home] which was collecting water from a nearby stream was flowing at around 40 kilometres per hour.
"There was a huge whirlpool here, and water was wooo, straight in there and bursting out the other side," Edmonds said.
Flood affected resident Julian Edmonds.
Photo:
RNZ/Marika Khabazi
Edmonds said it was "really dangerous" and recalled a neighbour who had been dragged through it before with such force all their clothes were ripped off.
"He was lucky to survive," Edmonds said.
He said he wasn't worried for himself during the flood.
"I'm more worried about my neighbours and I'm more worried about people wandering around in it."
Fire and Emergency crews in the region have been support those hit hard by the flooding.
Wakefield chief fire officer Wattie Mortimer told RNZ over the past week his volunteers did over 240 hours work.
Wakefield chief fire officer Wattie Mortimer.
Photo:
RNZ/Marika Khabazi
Mortimer said two of his staff members had properties affected badly by the weather.
"That's probably the difficult part in situations like this where you are out helping the community, but you also have got your own family and property to be looking after as well."
He said his crews helped evacuate homes, assess properties and pumping water from some sites.
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