Time to start drying out

Farmer Steffan Akkerman negotiates a flooded road in Whangaehu. Picture / Anthony Phelps

Flood victims in the lower North Island returned home yesterday to assess the damage as receding waters left a thick covering of mud over their properties.

"They say it's a one-in-a-100-year flood and we've had two in two years," said Whangaehu resident Venka Howes as she cleared silt from her 83-year-old mother's home. "Two hundred years we'd like to be flood-free now."

A civil defence emergency in the Rangitikei region was lifted yesterday. It was imposed on Friday night when rain swelled rivers and caused slips that cut off roads. The cost of flood damage is likely to run to millions of dollars.

The township of Whangaehu, near Wanganui, was one of the worst-hit areas. About 100 people were evacuated on Friday to nearby Ratana Pa, while others fled to houses on higher ground. The flooding had stopped short of the devastation of 2004.

"We're down but not out," said sheep farmer John Wilkie, whose low-lying paddocks were swamped. "It's part of life in a flood-prone valley."

Mr Wilkie praised the Civil Defence early warning system, saying even though the automatic calling system failed, the manual replacement worked "like a knowledge bank".

Others were less impressed but were glad they had taken out insurance since the last flood.

Sue Dudman, spokeswoman for Wanganui Civil Defence, said the main problem was with slips, and several families remained cut off because roads were blocked.

Civil Defence sent a helicopter yesterday morning to one such area, the Ahu Ahu Valley to deliver food to the 22 stranded residents.

Both lanes of State Highway 3 between Bulls and Wanganui were reopened yesterday morning. State Highway 4 between Wanganui and Raetihi is likely to remain closed until Monday.

In the Wairarapa roads were being reopened and the council was dealing with sewage problems. Slips closed the Rimutaka Hill Rd between Wellington and the Wairarapa yesterday evening.