Hundreds forced out by floods

By NZPA and JAMES GARDINER

Most of the Picton residents evacuated amid fears a dam above the town could collapse were allowed to return home last night.

Access was granted after engineers inspected the alternative water supply dam and deemed it safe, said Marlborough District Council emergency services manager Ross Hamilton.

Most of the 1000 people evacuated from houses sitting several kilometres under the dam were then told they could return.

But residents from a few houses in four Picton streets had to wait until their homes had been inspected after water containing sewage flooded the area.

The state of emergency, declared at 1.30pm yesterday after the Barnes Dam began to cause concern, will be reviewed this morning, Mr Hamilton said.

Last night the town was still having problems with sewage contamination after manholes overflowed and the Waitohi River flooded.

Bulging dams, teetering houses and blocked streams in the lower North Island and Marlborough were constantly monitored overnight as hazards left by the weekend's storm piled up.

While river levels in Rangitikei, Manawatu, Horowhenua, Wairarapa, Hutt Valley, Wanganui and South Taranaki had receded to safer levels by evening, concern remained focused on landslides, sewage, water supplies, telecommunications, power and dams.

States of emergency remained in place in Rangitikei, Manawatu, South Taranaki and Marlborough.

In the Wellington suburb of Karaka Bay, a residential street was closed off after a house threatened to slip off a slope after a landslide.

A city council spokesman said staff worked overnight to secure the house, which had broken off its foundations and would eventually have to be pulled down. The house is next door to one owned by The Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson.

Sixty-one houses in the region were still uninhabitable last night.

A state of emergency was also called in the South Taranaki township of Waitotara, 34km northwest of Wanganui, on the banks of the Waitotara River. The district council said 30 residents were evacuated to a nearby hall because of flooding and sewage contamination.

The evacuation centre set up at Manawatu College in Foxton was just one of dozens to which hundreds of people were moved over the past three nights as floods raged through farms and towns, smashing bridges and houses and closing traffic routes.

On the flood-prone plains south of Palmerston North the Moutoa floodgates were opened, releasing millions of cubic litres of water from the Manawatu across dozens of farms.

But as the rain continued and the river rose during the day even the normal flood control measures threatened to fail as the river topped stopbanks.

Farmers who evacuated their homes with their families in the dark about 3am returned during the day after being warned that even on the highest ground the cattle might not be safe.

That meant herding the cows along the only open road between Shannon and Foxton and across the floodgates as fears grew that the river levels would peak about 2pm.

Among those evacuated to Foxton were the Manville family of Moutoa.

"I'm really tired," said Michael Manville, 10, of Whirokino Rd.

It was 3am when neighbours banged on their door and beeped their car horn to wake them.

About 90 evacuated residents of Tangimoana were to spend a second night at a nearby recreation centre, and about 50 evacuated Feilding residents were to spend another night at Manfeild Park racecourse.

Around 170 pupils from Hato Paora College, near Feilding, were last night evacuated to the Massey University Marae in Palmerston North, after water and power supplies to the college were cut.

The main trunk railway line through the central and lower North Island will be closed until tomorrow or Friday because of major wash-outs and slips, Tranz Rail said.

Repairs were also needed on the Manawatu Gorge, Palmerston North-Napier, and Marton-Wanganui lines.

Picton was also closed to rail.