Kids donned their swimming gear for a splash in Springvale on Friday afternoon. Photo / Bevan Conley
A massive deluge of rain on Friday afternoon left residents in parts of Whanganui scrambling.
Metservice meteorologist Jessie Owen said 31.4mm fell between 3pm and 4pm on Friday.
“That is very, very heavy, and it’s no surprise that it caused some flash flooding,” Owen said.
A total of 57.4mm fell across the whole day.
Paraparaumu resident Henry Albert was in town for the 2023 Masters Games and stayed just below the Roberts Ave hill in Aramoho.
He said the downpour was “astonishing”.
“I’ve seldom seen such rain.
“The water was flowing down quite fiercely along both sides of the road, probably about a metre from the kerb on both sides.”
A Fire and Emergency New Zealand (Fenz) spokesperson said appliances were dispatched to assist in various locations on Friday and Saturday.
Recent flooding events in Auckland had put his team on high alert, Whanganui’s Civil Defence emergency manager Tim Crowe said.
“It shows you what the weather can do.
“Three team members plus a couple of regular council volunteers came in on Friday night to lend a hand just in case. Everyone was ready to go if things got worse.”
He said most of 31.4mm of rain on Friday afternoon fell within 15 minutes, and drainage systems in New Zealand weren’t designed to cope with that amount in such a short space of time, Crowe said.
“That’s why you saw surface water pretty much all over Whanganui.
“We worked with Fenz and the roading guys to go where the worst impact was - Aramoho - and help people there. Robert’s Ave and Patterson St were probably ground zero.
“We got a couple of people to move out from their homes, and they had other people they could stay with. Red Cross chipped in to help us and we also did some welfare checks.”
A building inspector and an electrical inspector were on hand in Aramoho on Friday evening to conduct safety checks on houses.
Okoia was also flooded, and that was the last area to remain monitored, at around 11pm on Saturday, Crowe said.
“The fire service evacuate one family there on Friday night. The house was fine but they wanted to go into town to stay with friends.”
Springvale resident Yvonne Lane said the stormwater drainage system “blew its lid” on the corner of Surrey Rd and Parson St.
“Water just came gushing out and straight down through all the houses around there.
“This is the third flood I’ve had in the 10 years I’ve lived here, and this was actually the worst. I’ve never seen rain like it.”
A neighbour helped get a deep freezer off her garage floor but the washing machine couldn’t be saved in time.
“It (the water) was waist-high in my garage. The fire brigade pumped it out, and they were amazing. I’ve got nothing but fantastic things to say about them,” Lane said.
Crowe said Civil Defence and Fenz returned to Aramoho on Saturday morning to clean up and help two properties with preventative measures in case of more rainfall.
“If you can accurately predict the weather ahead of time, you’re doing pretty well.
“We’ve learned over the last 18 months to not only keep a close eye on monitoring systems but to go out there and check ourselves, or with our contacts, about what water is doing.
“Last year, there were extreme downpours in very localised locations. It might be raining in one rural valley and dry in the next one over.”
Lane said Whanganui could expect more rain overnight on Sunday but it would be nowhere near as heavy as Friday.
“Moving into next week, it looks like there’s a high risk of showers on Wednesday but other than that, things are looking pretty good until Friday.”
The 19-year-old was found in a remote area in the hills of Upper Hutt.