Flooded State Highway 2 in the Karangahake Gorge. Photo / Supplied
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Karangahake Gorge residents say being in the gorge today is “like being stranded on an island”.
Due to flooding there was no way out of the gorge in either direction, resident Anita Saunders said.
A state of national emergency has been declared in response to Cyclone Gabrielle.
Saunders said the power went off four times on Sunday and then again at 9pm last night.
It was yet to be restored and the family could not shower, do washing or run the septic tank.
”Currently we can drive about a 3km stretch of road in the middle of the gorge but no further. It’s like being stranded on an island.”
“The weather has been pretty crazy. On Sunday night it was quite scary as the winds were so fierce. My parents, who are both in their 70s, have told me they have never experienced such strong wind gusts in their lives.
“But we are all safe which is all that matters.”
Saunders said water had been lapping across the road like “big waves rolling into shore at a beach.
”There has also been a massive slip over part of the loop walking track on the other side of the river.”
A Karangahake Gorge resident, who asked not to be identified, said: “The Gorge river is the highest it’s ever been since we moved here six years ago.”
The resident said she had been told the height of the flooded river at 12.30am today was 17.1m.
In floods in 1981, the river reached 18.66m.
”We’ve had five power cuts in the last couple of days, but we are doing okay as we have a little gas cooker and fortunately there wasn’t another big slip in the same area as last big storm.
“The council contractors were out working in the Gorge last night.”
The resident said the Gorge was closed on Monday night from 10pm and the water was lapping right across the highway especially down in the Waikino area.
Cyclone Gabrielle has left a path of destruction across the north island, including Auckland, Northland, Bay of Plenty, Gisborne and Hawke’s Bay and big swathes of the Coromandel Peninsula and the East Coast were also hit hard.
Earlier on Tuesday, Coromandel Civil Defence controller Garry Trowler said his region had been hit with more than 400mm of rain overnight, and along with the impacts from the fierce gale-force winds, the Coromandel Peninsula had been effectively “cut off “ from the rest of the country.
There was wide-spread surface flooding, trees blocking streets, swamped paddocks, houses surrounded by flood waters and all 11 cell phone sites had come down, with 14 blockages on state highways in the Thames-Coromandel district, he earlier said.
Meanwhile, a third of the district woke to find they were still without power.
The MetService issued an orange strong wind warning for the Coromandel which remains in force until at least midnight on Tuesday.
- Additional reporting NZ Herald
Police could be seen cordoning off a street in the area.