Narrow escape as logs burst out on to SH35

Logs and other debris burst out of the bush on SH35 near Motu bluff on Sunday afternoon. Picture by Jeremy Coombes/TVNZ

A few seconds between life and death — that’s the story of a group of recreational fishermen who were nearly killed by a sudden landslide of logs and water on State Highway 35.

One of the fishermen, Jeremy Coombes, told TVNZ he and his mates were on the way home to Auckland along the coast by the Motu River, when it happened.

“If we’d been there three or four seconds earlier, she’d have been goneburgers,” he said.

Waka Kotahi Bay of Plenty transport systems manager Roger Brady says heavy rain over the weekend resulted in the slip coming down at 2.30pm on Sunday.

The fishing friends were driving towards Opotiki after a trip to East Cape. Driving in the rain, they had just crossed the Motu River when they saw some trees on the road ahead.

Mr Coombes says he put the brakes on and stopped — then came the full slip and “logs came flying across the road”.

A dashcam video shows a cloud of water bursting from the bush on the left, with large logs tumbling like matchsticks across the road, in a flood of water, mud and debris.

One log flies through the air, as the men decided to back up out of danger.

The video shows the large size of the logs, and they appeared to have been cut and trimmed.

Satellite coverage of the area shows nearby forestry with a lot of woody material on the ground and gullies which run towards the nearby sea and road.

Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency had geotechnical engineers and drones surveying the damage first thing yesterday, both above and below the highway, assessing the safety and stability of the road and surrounding area.

Later in the day they gave the green light for contractors to start clearing the large volume of debris, which included trees and other material.

With no detour available, SH35 was closed from just outside Opotiki to the Motu River bridge.

Mr Brady said Waka Kotahi realised the importance of the single route to those living and working in the East Cape area, and would work as quickly as possible to get the road open again.

In fact, good progress was made, and the road was able to be reopened late yesterday afternoon, to a single lane with traffic control in place.

Work is continuing to clear trees and other debris, and is expected to take several days to complete.

The East Cape area bore the brunt of the heavy rain that was forecast, with only 20 to 40 millimetres in the southern part of the region.

The heaviest falls were recorded in the Raukumara Ranges with gauges there receiving around 170mm over the weekend, and the Waikura Valley 133mm.

With the front and its low moving away to the east, the rain warnings were lifted, but MetService had a watch in place for south to southwest winds nearing severe gale in exposed places, for coastal parts of Tairāwhiti/Gisborne and Hawke’s Bay north and east of Wairoa.

Strong wind was expected overnight, easing this morning.