Anglers terrified as Genesis sends 'raging torrent' down river

Some anglers say a sudden rise in the level of the Tongariro River could be fatal.

Anglers are concerned about a sudden release of water down Tongariro River that they say could have drowned someone.

Several fishers became stranded after Genesis Energy closed a gate on a canal leading into the river on Friday morning, sending a torrent of water downstream that increased Tongariro's usual volume.

A rafting company had to rescue a group stranded on an island in the river who called police for help, while at least one other angler waded to shore as the water rose around him and was reportedly left terrified by the incident.

Turangi anglers yesterday told the Herald that the power company failed to notify the public of the test on its gate, which came as the town was gearing up for the busiest weekend of the year on the world-renowned trout fishing river.

The anglers said the water's volume had doubled suddenly and someone could have been killed.

But Genesis last night downplayed the incident, saying the amount of water released was small and increased the river's level by only 27cm at Turangi.

"It was not at all life-threatening," said public affairs manager Richard Gordon.

He said relevant authorities had been notified about the release, which affected anglers about 9am on Friday, but it was not large enough to warrant public notification.

Public notification was done when Genesis did large releases, usually for recreational purposes such as kayaking on the river.

But several anglers, including Tongariro River Motel owner Ross Baker, said the release was dangerous.

"There's absolutely no excuse for it. They can do it at night. They can do it with warning."

Mr Baker said an Australian who had been staying at his motel had been forced to wade back across the river when it began rising rapidly. "He really thought he was going to drown."

He said the man, who was in his late 60s and had a heart condition, had been visiting Turangi to fish for four years but had spent the weekend in bed and had vowed not to return.

He was on a flight home to Perth yesterday and could not be contacted, but the Department of Conservation confirmed that he had complained to its local fisheries manager about what had happened.

Fishing guide Will Kemp, who was with two clients beside the river, said the water suddenly rose about half a metre.

"We were about to do a crossing. Had we been crossing when it came down, it could have been messy."

He said it had remained higher than normal and discoloured for about two hours.

His father, Richard Kemp, said the river turned into "a raging torrent" in less than five minutes.

Fishing website superfly.co.nz featured a graph showing a big spike in the water flow, from about 30cu m to more than 60cu m.

Website author Lee Hinkleman said it was the largest spike he had seen in his six or seven years of writing daily fishing reports for the river.

"It's very simple physics. People could have got washed away."

A local group, Advocates of the Tongariro River, were also unhappy about the release.

Tongariro River Rafting said Genesis had notified it and local DoC fisheries manager John Gibbs of the release. Genesis said it would look at doing such releases at times of the day when anglers were not on the river.