Flooding leaves more than 160 homes uninhabitable in Manawatu district

1.00pm

More than 160 homes in the Manawatu district have been confirmed as uninhabitable as a result of this week's flooding -- but the final figure will be much higher.

Ten houses have been declared unsafe -- all of them in Feilding -- and one home just outside the town on the Kiwitea Stream, has been lost.

District environmental services chief Patrick McHardy said yesterday the district council's own properties had also been affected.

Of 88 homes in the town which have had contaminated floodwaters through them -- and cannot be lived in until they have been thoroughly cleaned and floor coverings replaced -- 41 are council-owned pensioner flats.

Two privately owned blocks of three flats in Hobson St, backing onto the Makino Stream, are now hanging over the collapsed stream banks and are unsafe -- as are some properties in Norfolk Cres, Seddon St, McKay Rd and Kimbolton Rd.

Mr McHardy said the Kopane schoolhouse would have to be checked out, having apparently been shifted off its foundations.

At Tangimoana 41 homes are uninhabitable after flooding.

So far, 30 rural properties are confirmed as uninhabitable, but as waters recede in the southern part of the district the number will grow, Mr McHardy said.

"I don't think the number we have now even scratches the surface," he said.

There are displaced families across the region and yesterday a new relief fund -- the Manawatu/Wanganui Regional Disaster Relief Fund -- to cover all flood-hit districts within the Horizons Regional Council area was formally set up at a meeting of regional mayors.

It is set up as a trust, and is being run from Palmerston North by Mayor Mark Bell-Booth.

One of the first donations to it was $100,000 from city-based major rural insurer FMG, which has so far received more than $2.2 million in claims.

People and organisations wanting to make major cash, or other, donations should do so via the mayors, Mr McKelvie said. The council is using a warehouse-sized building in Feilding as a central store for donations ranging from brooms and gumboots to clothing, furniture, kitchen requirements, non-perishable foods and bedroom and bathroom linen.

Fresh produce and meat has also been donated for families in need.

Yesterday, Civil Defence Minister George Hawkins and a small team attended a co-ordinators briefing meeting at Manawatu District Council and would be in the region again today with Agriculture Minister Jim Sutton.

"The Government will ensure you get all the help you need," he said. "We are committing millions of dollars."

That value would be in support staffing, roading and services to needy people via a social welfare one-stop-shop.

Mr Hawkins told the meeting he was working toward presenting a detailed paper to cabinet on Monday.

He later refused to indicate what the paper's recommendations might be.

Meanwhile, about 550 homes in the central and lower North Island are still without power.

Power lines company Powerco said today it had repaired nearly all the damage from strong winds, heavy rain and lightning strikes in the central and lower North Island on Thursday night, but several homes were still cut off as a result of the severe weather and flooding earlier in the week.

The majority of affected consumers were in Wanganui and Waitotara.

"The homes affected are in areas that were completely blown apart by the storm," Powerco spokesman Neil Holdom told NZPA.

"These areas have been hammered and they are pretty hard work to get into."

The destruction was on a scale that lines worker had not seen before and some of Powerco's equipment had simply been washed away, he said.

Access to many areas was still almost impossible due to landslides, damaged roads and washed out bridges. Powerco had been using helicopters to ferry crews and equipment into the worst hit areas.

"We've been flying in staff and we've also got the helicopter guys flying in equipment like poles," Mr Holdom said.

Powerco network assets general manager Richard Krogh said staff were on top of things in all but the worst affected areas.

"Much of the roading, water and other infrastructure will take months to repair," he said today in a statement.

Mr Krogh said the initial focus of the restoration effort had been to restore supply to the backbone of the network.

"We have the vast majority of supply to affected consumers back on, but there are still some remote or rural properties without power. We would ask those consumers who are still without power to contact their electricity retailer and advise of their situation. This will assist us in repairing the last of the storm damage to our networks and getting electricity supply to all affected consumers back on," he said.

- NZPA