The house at Lannan Road which lost its garden, closing The Esplanade.

“I’ve seen plenty of slips and flooding on the island in the past, especially around the flats of Blackpool when the tide is in and the rain is heavy, but nothing like last Wednesday’s damage,” he says.

Mr Leonard thinks that the long dry spell the island experienced last summer, which cracked and de-stablised the ground, combined with heavy continuous rain – 61.5mm fell on the island last Wednesday and Thursday – could be partly to blame for the problem.

“And I also reckon that the amount of development Waiheke has seen in recent years has surprised us all,” he said. “Years ago, there used to be a lot more scrub and bush, which slowed down the velocity of the rain. Now in a lot of these places where there used to be scrub, there are houses, water tanks and driveways.”

Material from unsealed driveways was also washed down onto roads and ended up blocking culverts and causing flooding.

Mr Leonard says the fire brigade got a call in the early hours of Thursday morning, initially to deal with the flooding and “it just escalated from there.”

Contractors attended around 25 major and minor slips all over the island and were kept busy dealing with blocked roads and traffic management through the night and the following day.

The Esplanade between Blackpool and Surfdale and Hekerua, Tiri View and Lannan roads were completely closed due to slips and a number of other roads were partially blocked; Ocean View Road, heading up from Little Oneroa, the beginning of Goodwin Avenue near the Little Oneroa bridge and Palm Road, heading down to Palm Beach.

A significant slip partially blocked Ocean View Road, slowing traffic and causing delays. Photo Eme Kilkenny.

“The earthquake commission are involved as it is less than eight metres from Dr Mike Karetai’s house. The walkway is likely to be closed for months with repairs likely to involve retaining the area in the summer,” he says.

There was also a major slip at the Matiatia Historic Reserve, heading north around from the old wharf in the direction of Owhanake, and there is currently no access through the reserve, says Department of Conservation visitor recreation manager Peter Smith.

“The Matiatia walkway will be closed two hours either side of high tide but access along the beach is possible outside of these times. DoC is now assessing the site and considering long term options to deal with any ongoing erosion,” he says. •

Julianne Evans