Flooding worse than 2004?

Farmers spoken to by Rural News say that while the 2004 floods were widespread, this event – 130-302mm of rainfall in region – was more localised and worse than 2004.

Farms from Otaki in the south to Waitotara in the north and inland to Hunterville were all badly hit.

A major problem was the lack of power to many farms; helicopters were used to fly in emergency supplies of food. Fences wiped out by slips have caused huge problems with stock that were in specific mobs and got mixed up; sorting this out will add to the stress of dealing with flood damage.

In Horowhenua two streams – the Main Drain and the Koputaroa, between Levin and Foxton – broke their banks, flooding dairy farms and forcing farmers to hurriedly move their stock to higher ground – what little there was of it. 

Badly hit was the small settlement of Opiki, north of Shannon, where dairy farms and commercial growers found parts of their farms underwater. Clive Akers, who has farmed in the area all his life and takes recordings for NIWA, says this was heaviest rain ever recorded in the area. He says 137mm fell over two days.

The road through Opiki to Palmerston North was closed, as water from the Manawatu River came within a few feet of overtopping the stopbank near the main bridge. 

James Stewart, Federated Farmers president for the Manawatu/Rangitikei area, says meetings have been held with Beef + Lamb NZ, DairyNZ, Horizons and MPI to get a complete picture of the scale of the damage.

“Our main concern is the Rangitikei and Whanganui areas with the slips. That’s pretty devastating with a lot of farmers saying it’s the worst they have seen,” he told Rural News. “However, it appears to be more localised than in 2004, with some areas like Taihape unscathed. It’s more the Whanganui and Hunterville areas that have been hammered.” 

Stewart knows of at least one farmer who has lost half the tracks on his farm and says it’ll be months before all the fences and tracks and other damage is repaired.