A bad year for rainfall but history shows nothing much has changed on Tararua district’s roads

A slip caused by the high levels of ground saturation during winter on Route 52 in the Tararua district. Photo / Supplied

It might have been a bad year for rain and slips this year, but spare a thought for those 100 years ago.

A look into a past article of the Dannevirke Evening News showed nothing much has changed on Tararua district’s roads.

The article, from January 23, 1923, notes the road between Dannevirke and the Coast was quite hilly, with “hairpin” bends.

Heavy rain had fallen the day before and cars returning to the Coast had to deal with heavy slips.

“Finding it impossible to get the cars through, round, or over these obstructions, the drivers were compelled to abandon them and transfer the contents — including the mail — as well as they could to borrowed cars on the other side of the slip. To any one (sic) who knows the slippery, cloggy nature of soaked papa the imagination will supply the picture.”

By morning, one of the slips had been cleared, but the road was still in “an awful state”.

“Passengers and mails had to be transferred as before, and the cars finally reached Dannevirke. But the footwear of the occupants told the tale.”

A slip in July in the Tararua district was a result of heavy rain. Photo / Supplied

This year, the months of rainfall had led to thousands of slip events throughout the Tararua district, leading to some roads being closed, or down to single lane so repairs could be done.

Figures from Niwa show during winter, Dannevirke experienced 441mm of rainfall, almost one and a half times more than what was normal for the season, and the fourth highest recorded since 1951.

Tararua District Council group manager Chris Chapman said the year had been consistently wet, creating numerous challenges for infrastructure.

“The quantum of damage to the road network following several weather events this year is very high compared to the last 10-15 years, and will take a couple of years to complete all the repairs.”

He said it wasn’t necessarily the severity of the weather events so much as the frequency of them, particularly with heavy rain and strong wind when the ground was already saturated.

Horizons Regional Council stations measuring rainfall in the district provided a picture of just how wet the 12 months since December last year had been, with one at Tamaki Reserve measuring almost 2800mm and at Akitio, about 1550mm of rainfall.