Sodden picture of woe

By ROSALEEN MacBRAYNE

From the air, the Bay of Plenty looked like a weird watery patchwork yesterday.

Sodden towns and settlements, bloated rivers breaking their banks, paddocks awash, landslips galore - it was as heartbreaking as it was awesome. Mother Nature was having a field day, both in the horticultural Western Bay and the dairy country to the east.

Across the Rangitaiki Plains the water kept spilling. One herd of about 30 cows huddled on a small section of stop bank not yet breached by the bursting river.

Some unlucky houses, milking sheds and cars had taken a dunking and others were perilously close to the same fate. A fire engine trying to turn around near Edgecumbe went over a bank and had to be pulled from the water by a towtruck.

Behind the extensive flooding was the mighty Matahina dam, putting on an impressive display as it spat out great volumes of water, spraying it into the air and spilling even more further down river.

Scattered coastal settlements between Whakatane and Opotiki looked deserted. Inland villages held their collective breaths as the threat of evacuation hung over them while the day progressed.

In tiny Te Teko there were real fears of the Matahina dam bursting but authorities had an uphill struggle to get residents to move to the safety of Awakeri School, nearer Whakatane.

Many of the locals ambled around looking at the increasing surface flooding with little sense of urgency.

Bill Harris and Ngere Tunupopo from Tokoroa were caught off-guard. They had been in Rotorua on Saturday for a rugby game. "We came here to celebrate our loss and ended up in this disaster," said Mr Harris.

"We want to go home."