Eleven elder housing units have been evacuated and a group of tradies trapped due to floods in Waihī Beach today.
Emergency services were called to “widespread flooding” at the small beachside town as “multiple evacuations” took place this afternoon
Western Bay of Plenty District Council civil defence duty controller Peter Watson said 11 of its 19 elder housing units had flooded and residents had been evacuated.
Most of the pensioners were evacuated to the Waihī Beach RSA or were staying with family and friends. The council had organised back-up accommodation for the remaining residents, Watson said.
“We are working on confirming who has evacuated where in relation to our elder housing. We’ll be securing the flooded pensioner units overnight.”
Watson said the council was checking other places around Waihī Beach that were known to flood. It had received reports of the Waihī Beach Surf Lifesaving Club also flooding.
Watson said Waihī Beach and Athenree had been the worst hit by the flooding, recording 60ml of “intense rainfall” in an hour.
“The weather may have passed but the impact hasn’t. We have people on the ground and others on their way to help assess things and get in touch with anyone affected.
“Our Waihī Beach community response team have also been activated.”
Watson said the key information for people was to go to friends and family first if they needed to evacuate.
If it was a matter of life or death, call 111. Otherwise, email the council, or report it via their website or Antenno app.
“Be careful around any flooded water it may be contaminated.”
Builder James Austin said the rain started bucketing down around 1pm, and the heavy downpours didn’t let up for an hour.
”It came out of nowhere,” Austin said.
Browns Drive was now completely underwater, Austin said.
One man’s house had been filled with a least 150mm of water and a car that tried to drive through the floodwaters broke down, he said.
Austin said the floodwaters have left him and his workmates trapped as they could not use the flooded roads.
Waihī Beach resident Allan Sole, who is also a Western Bay of Plenty District councillor, said he knew of “a few houses” which had been evacuated.
Sole said there was a “horrendous amount of rain” and “there’s a lot of water lying around”.
”But it has definitely started to drain away.
“Largely, the rain has stopped now and I guess it’s receding in many places.”
A Fire and Emergency New Zealand spokesman said it received a report at 2.03pm of a car stuck in flood waters at Waihi Beach. Photo / Supplied
Sole said he was on his way to assess the situation at the flooded houses.
A Fire and Emergency New Zealand spokesman said it received a report at 2.03pm of a car stuck in floodwaters.
They then received a few phone calls from the northern end of Waihī Beach alerting them to “widespread flooding” in the area.
The spokesman said “multiple evacuations” had taken place, with the Waihi Beach RSA being an evacuation point.
The spokesman could not comment on the number of people evacuated at this stage.
Police, Fire and Emergency and surf lifesaving crew were helping with the evacuations, he said.
“It seems to be slowing down at this stage in regards to the amount of emergency calls coming through.”
A police spokeswoman said police were responding to a number of weather-related callouts in Whangamatā and the Waihī area this afternoon.
Motorists were warned to drive to the conditions, especially in areas vulnerable to slips and surface flooding, the spokeswoman said.
Earlier this afternoon, MetService issued a severe thunderstorm warning for the Western Bay of Plenty, Whakatāne, Rotorua and Kawerau this afternoon, but has since lifted it.
At 3.37pm, MetService detected severe thunderstorms near Te Puke and Paengaroa which are moving towards the southeast.
”These thunderstorms are expected to be accompanied by very heavy rain,” a MetService warning said.
”Very heavy rain can cause surface and/or flash flooding about streams, gullies and urban areas, and make driving conditions extremely hazardous.”
