Farms go under — Council ‘failed us’

Nicole Mathewson Reporter from The Press

From local democracy reporter Brendon McMahon:

A "moderate flood" in the Wanganui River was today running through farms near Harihari, just two days after the West Coast Regional Council received a strong warning from locals at a stormy on-site meeting.

The river pushed through a hole in the stopbank on the north side, on the edge of the leasehold farm of Bernard Walkington at Evans Creek.

Walkington estimated about 100ha of his farm was affected this morning.

The river was also flowing through the farm of his downstream neighbour, dairy farmer and West Coast Regional councillor Andy Campbell, whose land adjoins Lake Ianthe.

Walkington said it was only a moderate event after heavy rain yesterday, but the effect on his farm was "really bad".

The regional council does not measure the Wanganui River but the headwaters of the Whataroa River, about 35km south, received 79mm in the 24 hours until 10.30am today.

Walkington said he feared the worst once the floodwaters had receded, expecting to see a trail of silt, gravel and crushed fences.

It came about because the regional council had "failed them" on fixing the stopbank damaged by flooding at Waitangi Weekend.

By this morning the hole in the stopbank looked to have widened from about 90m to between 200 and 300m, he said.

"The engineer came down on February 6 and stated that job was top priority and needed to be fixed immediately. Four weeks later and it's still sitting there," Walkington said.

"Someone from council needs to be accountable for the loss of land and income. Someone obviously has said 'no, we're not fixing it'."

From what he could see today, quite a bit of the river's main channel was flowing across the lower part of his farm and into the Campbell property.

While facing a substantial loss to his milk cheque, the property owner and the Campbells would really be "hit in the pocket" to restore the pasture.

Walkington said there appeared to have been substantial loss to pasture, fence and stockwater lines on his farm, with shingle and other debris washed through.

It would have to be managed carefully with over 800 head of stock on the farm.

"No use crying over spilt milk now but it is a bit of a devastating event for us and our neighbours."

He had heard that council engineering staff were on their way to Hari Hari this morning.

While it had stopped raining it was "fingers crossed" the headwaters were not receiving more rain.

Campbell was meeting with council staff when approached for comment this morning.

Acting chairperson Peter Haddock said he was "really disappointed" at what had now happened.

He understood from Campbell the river had run through but his property but may not have scoured.

Haddock said the council had ordered emergency repairs on the south bank since Tuesday and had a contractor engaged to fix the north bank.

Wanganui River rating district member Mary Molloy said the overnight event was "entirely predictable".

A month of unprecedented low flows since the Waitangi Weekend flood meant it was only a matter of time, she said.

"It could've happened any time in that month period. It is very irresponsible of the regional council -- for whatever reason."

Molloy slated it back to the council, which had "stopped our rating scheme from working properly".