On Tuesday night, Tauranga City Council and Downer offered pallets of sandbags to anyone needing them to prevent homes and property flooding amid a red weather warning for the Bay of Plenty.
Families collecting some of the roughly 1500 sandbags in preparation for heavy rain say the move from Tauranga City Council and Downer Group NZ gave them “comfort” and “peace of mind”.
Rain was expected to cause dangerous river conditions and significant flooding. Slips and floodwaters were likely to disrupt travel, making some roads impassable and possibly isolating communities.
The sandbags were placed roadside for pick-up outside Downer’s Whakakake St site in The Lakes.
Among those collecting was Dave Julou, who was at the site on Wednesday morning collecting sandbags for his granddaughter’s cabin.
Julou said his granddaughter lived in a flood-vulnerable area of Welcome Bay.
“The drainage there is now inadequate ... the property’s nearly flooded before.
“My granddaughter has a cabin in the garden extension to the house, and the water level comes up to almost the bottom of the door.”
Julou said it was “so very good” of Downer and the council to advertise the sandbags, and it gave his family “comfort” to know they were able to better protect themselves from potential floods.
Tracey Watson and her son Addison-Jay Watson shared the same sentiment.
“Our house backs onto that reserve that runs adjacent to State Highway 29 ... and we have a driveway that slopes down. I just got [the sandbags] to put against the garage door to protect [us from] any major water coming in.”
Watson said being able to use sandbags offered her family “peace of mind”, and she applauded those who arranged the sandbags.
On Wednesday morning, the council stated on its Facebook page there had been a “huge” number of sandbags collected overnight, and more would be provided throughout the day.
By that afternoon, the council said the demand was “putting pressure on our supplies as they are flying off the pallets faster than Downer can replace them”. It asked people to only take bags if they had an immediate need or serious risk of flooding to ensure those people most at risk didn’t miss out.
Council acting chief executive Barbara Dempsey said about 1500 sandbags were collected from Downer on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Dempsey said as of Thursday morning, two houses in Redwood Lane, Tauriko had been damaged by flooding, in addition to five homes on Egret Ave in Maungatapu deemed too unsafe to live in, being issued with Dangerous Building Notices after a large landslip at the weekend.
Dempsey said there had been other minor landslips around the city, and clean-up would begin either when forecasted heavy rain had passed, or “once we have received advice that it is safe to do so”.
“In the interim, council contractors have been checking on outlets, stormwater pumps, flap gates, and drains throughout the city and cleaning any blockages.”
Due to several slips in McLaren Falls Park, it remains closed from the Animal Park onwards, Dempsey said.
As of Thursday morning, the Bay of Plenty west of Kawerau, including Rotorua, Tauranga, and the Western Bay of Plenty, was under a heavy rain warning, with the weather expected to potentially cause streams and rivers to rise rapidly. Surface flooding and slips were also possible and driving conditions could be hazardous. This warning was expected to last until 8am on Friday.
Heavy rainfall is expected. 70 to 90 millimetres could accumulate, with peak intensities of 10 to 20mm per hour.
A heavy rain watch is also in place in the Hunua Ranges and the Coromandel Peninsula from noon on Thursday to 6am on Friday.
Attempts were made to contact Downer for comment.