Water up to the windows & cars dragged away in the NI 19th Feb 2016

[JennyLeez]

This is the picture that shows the destructive force of the floods in the North Island.



Muddy storm waters threaten to consume a house in Galatea and drag cars away while debris bashes up against walls and blocked roads.

Residents of the town near Murupara have compared the flooding to the infamous Boxing Day tsumani, and described the area as looking like a disaster zone.

Two people had to be rescued from a house on Troutbeck Rd in the township early this morning after flood waters trapped the pair with water sitting halfway up the windows.

Firefighters were initially unable to access the property because the road was completely washed out and after a large effort the pair were rescued by tractor.

Nearby resident Shaun Bicknell said he was shocked at how bad the destruction was.

He said there had been heavy rain all night then between 6am and 7am it "absolutely teemed down".

Mr Bicknell said the house "looked like that tsunami on Boxing Day ... It's a disaster zone."

He said the house was right where the water comes out of the hills and there was a lot of debris and farmland under water. "It's pretty disastrous. It's actually quite unbelievable."

Mr Bicknell said the area often got heavy rain but usually it was quite forgiving.

He said it appeared big logs had hit the house. "Looking at it now there is a lot of silt and dirt and that. It looks like it all banked up then let go."

Witnesses said there was about 1m high of wood and branches blocking the road.

Firefighters were initially unable to access the property because the road was "completely washed out".

"They can't get out because of the rising flood waters ... the water is halfway up their windows."

MetService said Bay of Plenty, Coromandel Peninsula, Rotorua and Great Barrier Island could expect heavy rain, including thundery, localised downpours this morning.

In the past 24 hours, the Western Bay of Plenty has received 70-100mm of rain. The Rotorua lakes received 90-100mm, Whakatane River 50mm, upper Rangitaiki/Galatea 100-130mm, Opotiki rivers 70-100mm and East Cape 260mm.

Principal engineering surveyor Graeme O'Rourke says the lake and river level rises are due to a stationary front overnight that brought more rain than anticipated.

"[Council] continues to monitor the situation and will issue warnings as appropriate. We have staff on the ground in the affected areas. We will keep the community informed as the situation progresses."

Full report here at the NZ Herald:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11592298

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[Wolfie33]

A bit more on the Galatea flooding.
The short flash video shows the extent of the affected area, quite a bit larger than I first imagined, pretty poor quality, but still, worth a look.

https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/raw-footage-reveals-spectacular-bay-of-plenty-flood-thats-left-locals-trapped