5 April

Weather and Roading Update #6 7:30pm

Stony Bay is cut off because of a slip near the end of Port Charles Road and State Highway 25 between Te Mata and Kereta will be closed overnight, also because of slips. Travel on the Thames Coast Road is not advised as further slips may close it, stranding travellers.

A Severe Weather Warning is still in effect for the Coromandel Peninsula which could bring further heavy rain tonight and overnight with peak intensities of 25 to 45mm per hour and thunderstorms are also possible. The weather system is expected to move away on Thursday.

The Thames Valley Civil Defence Controller, Garry Towler, is advising people to stay off the roads if possible and to take extreme caution if travelling.

NZTA contractors are letting Thames Coast residents through to Te Mata to return home from Thames on the Coast Road but extreme caution is required, especially north of Waiomu, as there are lots of slips.

Earlier on Wednesday, emergency excavations took place at Williamson Park in Whangamata as the storm water catchment lake had to be lowered to alleviate residential flooding.

Kerbside blue bag rubbish collections couldn’t take place today in Coromandel Town, so have been rescheduled for Saturday. Please have your blue bags out on the kerb by 7:30am, please. See www.tcdc.govt.nz/kerbside for the full district Kerbside schedule.

Here is the situation at 7:30pm:

Local Roads:

· Stony Bay is completely blocked off due to a slip that is near to the end of Port Charles Road, Stony Bay, covering the entire road.

· Tapu-Coroglen Road closed at the slip about 3km from the Tapu end. The road is accessible either side of the slip.

· Wentworth Valley Ford is impassable due to flooding

· Black Jack Road is open to one lane due to a slip at approx 1km from SH25 (Kuaotunu side of Blackjack Road Hill)

· Sailors Grave Road - Open to one lane 100m south of turnoff on ocean side where a slip has undermined the road - caution is required.

· There is also a slip between 9 & 23 Sailors Grave Road, Tairua, covering half the road.

· Colville Road - completely blocked 1.5 km north of the Papa Aroha Motor Camp, between Papa Aroha and Amodeo Bay where a tree has fallen.

· We have a report that a slip has blocked one lane of Te Kouma Road. Exact location not reported.

No other District roads are reported closed.

State Highway network:

· SH25 Te Mata to Kereta closed due to multiple slips. Travel for residents only. Avoid the area if possible.

· SH25A Thames to SH25 Junction (Kopu-Hikuai Road) - Due to a slip along this section of SH, the eastbound lane is blocked. Contractors are on site providing stop-go traffic management. Expect delays or avoid the area if possible.

· SH25 Near Sailors Grave Road, Pumpkin Hill – Due to a washout, there is stop-go traffic management. Expect delays or avoid the area if possible.

· SH25 2km south of Blackjack Road, Kuaotunu. Due to a large slip, there is stop-go traffic management. Expect delays or avoid the area if possible.

For State highway updates (including Thames Coast Road and Kopu-Hikuai Road) see the NZTA website and follow NZTA Waikato BoP on Facebook.

To check for outages and report faults see www.powerco.co.nz/power-cuts

Tide Times:

Thames:

Thursday 6 April - High 02:41 3.7m
Thursday 6 April - High 15:10 3.6m

Whitianga:

Thursday 6 April - High 02:40 2.0m
Thursday 6 April - High 15:06 2.0m

River Levels:

As of about 6:30pm river levels on the Kauaeranga and Tairua were still rising.

To check current levels see the Waikato Regional Council website www.waikatoregion.govt.nz/services/regional-services/river-levels-and-rainfall

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