Flooding
I have talked before about how much I enjoy the summer rain up here. This year has been a particularly good one, with frequent showers and some good dowsings along the way. So often, especially during the droughts, we are forecast a shower or two, only to see the rain clouds in the distance, passing us by. We were issued a red-alert last night by the meteorological department, the highest warning possible. It has rained overnight, but as yet, not torrentially, as we were expecting. I have been following a particularly good ap, Windy, and clocking this latest storm’s movements. Each time I view it, there seems to be less rain coming our way, with the worst of the rain shifting to the left or right of us.
The flooding in Auckland on Friday was horrific. Nobody wants a deluge like that. I saw the knee-deep water in Auckland’s airport terminal building, and heard that the airport was expected to resume operations the next day, around lunchtime. I have been involved in several floods myself and I know that it is not just a matter of waiting for the water to drain from a building. There is a tremendous amount of clean-up work involved, as the water leaves behind silt and debris. I wasn’t surprised when I heard that the resumption of international flights was shifted firstly to 5pm Saturday, then later to Sunday morning. That building was massive and thus, equally, a massive amount of cleaning would have been required to get the building back up to standard.
But that was on a commercial level. What about all those people whose home’s were damaged? My heart goes out to them. Many people had to be evacuated, and some will need to find a new place to live as their home is deemed unliveable, then there is all the cleaning up. And believe me, that is no fun, especially when it continues to rain.
My own experience with flooding is that the water can gather force quickly. I was lying in a shearers’ quarters one night near Gore, and heard a glug, glug kind of a sound. Wondering what it was, I peeped outside, only to see knee-deep water lapping at the doorstep. The Mataura River had flooded its banks. We only just got out in time as the water rose at an alarming pace, gathering force as it did so.
There were plenty of floods on the farm too, one which I talked about in Who Is Me? I watched the water rise in a matter of minutes, from a trickle in a small stream to a raging force of water, probably 50 yards wide, sweeping everything in its path, to destruction. Another time, I sheltered under a kahikatea tree for 20 minutes, with my horse, waiting for the lightning and thunder to stop. When it didn’t, I rode into the storm to rescue some cattle from the flats. By the time I reached safety, the fences had submerged underwater and there was a fierce current passing by.
Storm water needs respect. It was tragic hearing of the deaths from Friday’s deluge. One of these was of a kayaker sucked down a culvert. This has happened before, at Kaiwaka, when two children were sucked into one in the same way. Only one lived to tell of their experience.
As much as I am enjoying this latest storm, I am hoping that everyone’s lives and houses remain safe during it. Rain is good, just not too much of it.