Last week's storms have left Far North ratepayers with a roading repair bill of up to $1.5 million, council staff say.
The two fronts dumped up to 190mm of rain in the Tutamoe Ranges and North Hokianga. The second front, which passed through on Wednesday night, also knocked out power to 3000 Far North households, mainly as a result of trees falling on powerlines.
Far North District Council infrastructure manager David Penny said a number of roads were made impassable due to floods and slips. Staff estimated the cost of reopening and repairing damaged roads could hit $1.5 million. By Monday, Runaruna Rd, in North Hokianga, was still partly blocked by a series of slips 7km from the Pawarenga Rd junction. Small vehicles only could get through.
When the rain was still on the way on Tuesday, the council took the unprecedented step of closing its entire unsealed rural roading network to logging trucks and heavy truck-and-trailer units moving metal.
The ban was lifted on Friday.