Flood water on way out in Manawatu

1.00pm

Most of the overflow from the Manawatu River should, weather permitting, be drained within six days according to Horizons Regional Council estimates.

Pumps have been working overtime in the Moutoa basin since March 16, when about 2000 hectares of mostly farm properties were flooded.

Horizons group manager operations Allan Cook said that at 10am yesterday 900ha of land remained flooded.

Pumping and natural drainage through the reopened Trestle Bridge stopbank breach would reduce this to about 700ha by Monday, and about 400ha by Thursday providing heavy rain doesn't cause the Manawatu River to freshen again.

"Those remaining 400ha will be the most difficult to clear," Mr Cook said. "That's the very low-lying ground in the basin that has no natural drainage channels, and the water will be shallow so pumps won't work to capacity.

"We're reluctant at this stage to estimate how long it might take."

Horizons is shifting the water at 12.5 cubic metres a second using six large electric pumps and five portable tractor pumps.

Channels have also been cut to encourage natural drainage back to the floodway and river.

Mr Cook said five days of natural drainage were lost this week, when the Manawatu River rose again with heavy rain on February 28.

The Trestle Bridge stopbank breach had to be closed again to stop the Manawatu reflooding the basin.

"We reopened that breach on Thursday morning, because the river had gone down enough so water would drain," Mr Cook said.

"How fast things can be drained all depends on the river level, and that depends on the weather."

Mr Cook said the stopbank breach would need substantial repair work and Horizons hoped to do this before the end of April, but again, this depended on the weather.

Meanwhile, flood-stricken farmers remain in the dark about the level of compensation from the Government, after Prime Minister Helen Clark refused to be drawn on the issue yesterday.

Farmers and growers want the Government to pay up to 60 per cent of their losses, which was the compensation deal offered after Cyclone Bola ripped through the East Coast in 1988.

Miss Clark, who was at Ohakea yesterday farewelling troops off to Iraq, refused to talk about details of any compensation package which could be given.

She said the Government had people, including Agriculture Minister Jim Sutton, assessing the needs so it could co-ordinate the appropriate response.

She didn't want to pre-empt a cabinet decision.

Miss Clark couldn't give a time when the level of compensation would be announced.

"It's really a question of getting all the information to make a decision."

The Government has already given a commitment to match dollar for dollar all funds raised by nationwide flood relief appeals. That will be at least $3.2 million, but the damage bill is expected to run into hundreds of millions of dollars.

Stock and crop farmers across the region have lost huge chunks of their income.

Federated Farmers vice-president Charlie Pedersen said a quick solution was needed to allow farmers to get on with making commercial decisions.

He said farmers were getting frustrated because they don't know what compensation, if any, would be offered.

Mr Pedersen expects the decision to be made during the middle of next week.

- NZPA