'Flash flood' devastates small community in Motueka Valley
Record rainfall has caused widespread damage across Nelson-Tasman, with Ngātīmoti hit by devastating floods not once, but twice in two weeks.
Shiloh Hobi's serene demeanour belied the sheer scale of destruction caused by Friday's rain as he showed RNZ what was once a small creek at the back of his property.
The land had been gouged out by floodwater, leaving behind it piles of silt and splintered wood in what locals estimated was a trail a couple of hundred metres long.
Ngātīmoti resident Shiloh Hobi, on Sunday, after having slash come through his property.
Photo:
RNZ/Samuel Rillstone
Hobi said the creek had only just been cleared of the mess caused by the flooding two weeks ago when Friday's rain hit - bringing with it a shocking amount of new slash.
"Thousands of tonnes of logs and silt... has come down and probably hundreds of tonnes of soil washed out to the sea that is impossible to be measured.
"I am very glad that it [the slash] stopped here, because if that had gone down into the school and houses down the road - that would have been absolutely devastating."
The source of the slash was a forestry block on steep land about two kilometres upstream, Hobi said.
He guessed a dam of water - caught behind trapped logs - reached at least five metres high before it burst - releasing a flash-flood of soil and silt into the settlement below.
"We heard the huge boulders and the logs ... it's very noisy, very noisy.
"No one really knows what happens, because it's so wild when a flood like this comes and so many logs together - it's absolutely unpredictable."
Slash in Ngātīmoti, on Sunday, following flooding and heavy rains.
Photo:
RNZ/Samuel Rillstone
Hobi said the forestry company had been very responsive, but its representatives were left speechless by what they saw on Saturday.
"They didn't know what to say because they themselves were absolutely shocked that so much has come down, so much has collapsed."
It was clear forestry practices needed to change, he said, noting that the recent damage - on top of what people were already facing - had left some reeling.
"But I have found that anger is never a solution to anything. It maybe activates us to do something, but I think real decision-making needs to comes from a place of peace.
"I see a future where this kind of complex situation can be solved."
Photo:
RNZ/Samuel Rillstone
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NZ Herald
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- NZ Herald
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Photo / Chris Gorman The BSA, on the other hand, rejected Wishart's complaint about the radio broadcast, saying it had not breached its accuracy standard. '[Wishart] argued the broadcast was inaccurate and, when notified of the previous heatwave, RNZ had taken insufficient actions to correct any misleading impressions,' said the BSA in its decision. 'The authority found the statements complained about were analysis, comment or opinion to which the [accuracy] standard does not apply and, in any event, did not result in the broadcast being misleading.' The original story The original RNZ story was broadcast and reported on February 13. On RNZ National's Morning Report, the story was introduced: 'From sunny Nelson to sunny Hamilton, a climate scientist says Hamilton's recent run of hot days likely beats anything the city has experienced since temperature records began. 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Editor-at-Large Shayne Currie is one of New Zealand's most experienced senior journalists and media leaders. He has held executive and senior editorial roles at NZME including Managing Editor, NZ Herald Editor and Herald on Sunday Editor and has a small shareholding in NZME. Watch Media Insider - The Podcast on YouTube, or listen to it on iHeartRadio, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
RNZ News
an hour ago
- RNZ News
Moteuka farmer describes the harrowing moment his wife got swept away in floodwaters
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RNZ News
12 hours ago
- 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.
