Source: Radio New Zealand
The owner of a superette in the Hutt Valley suburb of Wainuiomata says he’s not sure if sandbags will be enough to stop rising flood waters.
A state of emergency was declared in the Wellington region after it was hit with torrential rain with heavy rain warnings in Wellington and Wairarapa being upgraded to red until Tuesday night.
Earlier on Monday afternoon Hutt City Council urged residents at the northern end of Konini Street – up the road from Konini Superette – to evacuate.
Owner Jay Gandhi said he’s been putting sandbags in place ahead of closing up for the night.
Jay has sandbagged the area around his shop but isn’t sure if it will be enough to stop flooding if levels continue to rise. RNZ / Mark Papalii
“Once we close the shop we’re going to put sandbags on our front door as well. That’s all we can do – we have almost 45 sandbags at this stage – but I don’t know if that’s going to save us or not,” Gandhi said.
Gandhi said waters were quickly building up about a bridge which crosses the creek near his store.
Wainuiomata creek during heavy rain. RNZ / Mark Papalii
He said the vegetation around the creek needed to be cleaned as it was the reason there had been so much clogging under the bridge.
MetService had said the forecast rain presents a threat to life from dangerous river conditions, significant flooding and slips.
A Wainuiomata creek during heavy rain. RNZ / Mark Papalii
An orange heavy rain warning remained in place for the Tararua District while Wairarapa and Wellington excluding Porirua were under a red heavy rain warning until 9pm Tuesday.
Other areas such as the Horowhenua, the Kāpiti Coast and Porirua, Hawke’s Bay south of Cape Kidnappers, Taihape, Whanganui and Manawatū were under a heavy rain watch.
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
