Council ignored campsite flood risk - locals

Flooding risks that endangered the lives of a family camping in south Wairarapa over the weekend had been ignored by the local council, residents say.

Palmerston North man Stuart Newland was camping with his children, nieces, pregnant partner and her parents at Te Awaiti Reserve, on the southern Wairarapa coast, when the Oterei River burst its banks on Saturday morning.

Mr Newland awoke at 3.30am to find his air mattress afloat in the tent, The Dominion Post reported.

He rescued his sleeping daughter and two nieces from the car where they were trapped, with freezing water up to window level.

His partner, Lisa Minns, two young sons and his mother-in-law were trapped in a nearby Land Rover, while Mr Newlands' wheelchair-bound father-in-law was clinging to the poles of his flooded tent.

Some of the group made it to the nearby house of Neil and Pam Davis to raise the alarm.

Mr and Mrs Davis helped rescue the rest and put them up for the morning.

Mr Newland, who suffered a stomach condition, was recovering from his heroics in Masterton Hospital yesterday.

Locals told The Dominion Post other campers had previously been trapped by flooding in the reserve but the local council had ignored warnings.

Ms Minns said it was "shocking" that there were no signs warning of the flood risk.

She believed her sons could have drowned if they were sleeping in a tent instead of a car.

South Wairarapa Mayor Adrienne Staples said warning signs were meant to be in place before Christmas.

She was surprised they had not been erected yet, but said she believed campers had to have "some personal responsibility".

Heavy rains in the Wellington region over the weekend led to the area recording double its average monthly rainfall in just two days.

- NZPA