Four days and still no respite from floods

By AINSLEY THOMSON and NZPA

As the state of emergency in the Eastern Bay of Plenty enters its fourth day, at least 500 people are still unable to return home.

The flooded region was also coping with more overnight rain.

The MetService last night forecast 10mm to 15mm to fall in the region that was hit by 250mm of rainfall in 48 hours over the weekend.

The storm claimed the lives of two women, forced the evacuation of about 2000 people, flooded farmland, shut roads and scarred the countryside with hundreds of mudslides.

The area has also been hit by a swarm of more than 100 earthquakes.

The state of emergency will be reviewed at midday today.

Prime Minister Helen Clark said the Government was expecting worse and more frequent floods in future and was looking at ways of dealing with them.

"I think the climate will continue to be erratic and more extreme than we have seen in the past and that may mean a re-evaluation of flood protection and catchment issues," she said.

Last night, 500 people were spending their fourth night in makeshift accommodation - their homes still uninhabitable.

Whakatane District Council spokeswoman Mary Hermanson said up to 10,000 people lived in the areas affected by the floods - the district's population is 34,000.

The true number of how many were forced to evacuate their homes was impossible to calculate because many had stayed with friends or family and had not registered, she said.

It is estimated that up to 3000 dwellings have been affected by the flooding.

The district council has begun pumping out the Whakatane suburb of Awatapu - where water is still shoulder deep in some places.

Most of the remaining evacuees are from Awatapu, which is surrounded by a lagoon.

Thornton, in the low part of the Rangitaiki Plain where dairy farms, horticulture and lifestyle blocks were situated, will take longer to drain.

Residents were ferried to their homes yesterday in Army trucks so they could grab essentials such as extra clothing to tide them over.

Hundreds returned home for the first time yesterday to survey the damage and, where possible, settle back to normal life.

Most Edgecumbe residents have now been able to return home.

But with their return came warnings to conserve water and watch children playing near the floodwater. They were also warned to assume the stormwater was contaminated.

The sewage risk means some Whakatane schools will not open until tomorrow.

Looting was feared by many evacuees, but police said rumours of people going among houses in boats and looting them had no substance.

Edgecumbe residents left nothing to chance and mounted floating patrols.

The insurance industry has moved more than 100 extra staff into the region to help deal with claims, while the Earthquake Commission expects about 2000 claims as a result of the earthquakes.

Roads remain closed, or down to one lane in many areas, but no area is completely cut off.

Ruatahuna, home to about 250 families, was reconnected from one side when a road to Wairoa in northern Hawkes Bay was reopened.

Transport Minister Pete Hodgson said reopening and repairing roads was a matter of urgency.

"Money for emergency work such as this is ready and waiting."

He said Transfund usually had a budget of $25 million to $30 million a year to repair damaged roads, but after the spending to deal with February's flooding in the lower central North Island, the emergency fund was doubled to $59 million.

Environment Bay of Plenty staff will continue working to find ways to plug a 100m breach in a stopbank on the eastern side of the Rangitaiki River above Edgecumbe.

Floodwaters have been pouring through the breach on to the Rangitaiki Plains.