Visitors
Deluge brings floods, slips and road closures
| 
Sports fields turned to lakes, paths became streams and slips closed roads as the island was deluged with close to 130mm of rain last weekend.
Residents in Awaawaroa Valley were trapped as floodwaters poured over the access road, swamping a tour bus and causing several slips and washouts. There was also a major slip on Man O’ War Bay road and traffic came to a standstill on Trig Hill Road as a local contractor worked to clear a slip there late on Saturday morning.
An 88mm dump on Saturday on top of 36mm the previous night proved too much for the island’s already saturated soil to absorb and residents in some areas were out with spades clearing culverts to prevent flooding over properties on the lower side of the road.
Fire Chief and Auckland Transport supervisor Ron Leonard said that apart from slips, the severe weather had taken its toll of road surfaces with scouring damage and potholes appearing everywhere.
“Awaawaroa Road needs a lot of work and Orapiu Road also has some bad failures that need repair.”
Downers has been asked to provide quotes for storm damage repair, he said.
New book recalls pioneering days on Great Barrier
|
For a family that had just spent three months sailing from Britain to Auckland, the hop across the water to Great Barrier Island back in the 1860s probably didn’t look too daunting – but the island was to prove a graveyard of broken business dreams for the pioneering Allom family.
A century and a half later, an account of their hopes and frustrations is detailed in a new book by Albert Allom’s great grandson Barrie Allom.
Fierce winds cause major power cuts across Waiheke
|
Galeforce winds felled trees – including one that fell on the roof of a house on Waiheke Road – and caused widespread power outages from Oneroa through to Onetangi on Tuesday night.
On Wednesday morning, Vector was reporting that five different feeder lines had been affected by fallen trees and blown pole fuses. Additional contractors had to be mobilised from Auckland to deal with the power feeder carnage.
It proved a challenge. The initial estimated time for power resumption was 9.30am but that was later amended to 6pm for large parts of the island.
Voices from the river – a journey of connection
|
“I am the river and the river is me – we are inseparable from the river. It flows through us and binds us to its memory, past, present and future.”
Connection and relationships are central to the latest movie from Waiheke-based co-directors Paora Te Oti Takarangi Joseph and Janine Martin due to premiere at the New Zealand Film Festival this month. Te Awa Tupua – Voices from the River documents the long struggle by iwi of the Whanganui to have their strong spiritual connections with the river recognized by a Pakeha legal system that is primarily about possession rather than guardianship.
Read
Gulf News and
Waiheke Weekender
Online
