Residents endure flood frustrations | Northland News | Local News in Northland

When Ricky Timms saw council contractors waterblasting Kaeo's main street to clean up after a flood two weeks earlier, the volunteer firefighter had a chuckle to himself.

"I told them as soon as they do that it'll flood again."

The clean-up was on Monday night; sure enough, by Tuesday morning parts of Kaeo were under water again.

While most folk in Kaeo barely batted an eyelid over yesterday's flood, at its peak around noon the water was high enough to cover State Highway 10 just north of town.

Water lapped at the back of Kaeo's fire station - also mopped up just last Friday - and was knee-deep and fast flowing across Omaunu Rd. Residents on Dip Rd were unable to leave home.

Mr Timms and fellow firefighter Bryan Burkitt stationed themselves at the Omaunu Rd bridge to keep an eye on the river.

"We can't stop people driving through, but we're here to help if someone gets in trouble," Mr Timms said. Flooding was just part of life in Kaeo, he said.

"We get used to it. Every time it happens, we get stronger and learn how to get through it."

However, for long-suffering Dip Rd residents - where houses were wrecked twice in 2007 - being trapped at home for the third time this year caused serious frustration.

Homeowner Paula Jones said the constant disruptions to her job had forced her to move out and rent elsewhere.

She acknowledged work had been done to reduce flooding in the town, but said Dip Rd and other low-lying areas had been ignored.

If anything, work upstream had made the situation on Dip Rd even worse, she said.

At the Kerikeri Basin - home to New Zealand's oldest buildings - Historic Places Trust staff were placed on alert early yesterday. While the Kerikeri River was high and raging, neither Kemp House nor the Stone Store were threatened.

Around Whangarei surface flooding forced temporary closures on parts of Ngunguru, Kaiikanui and Otonga roads, and Russell Rd was reduced to one lane after two slips on the Helena Bay Hill. The first slip was cleared but the second was still blocking part of the route late yesterday. 

MetService forecaster Nic Bonnette said by today most of the rain would have fallen, but some showers would linger until the front moved off in the afternoon. The rain that hit Northland, caused by a slow-moving trough, was significant but not exceptional, she said.

According to Northland Regional Council figures, the wettest place in the 36 hours to noon yesterday was Puhipuhi, about 30km north of Whangarei, with a whopping 117mm of rain. It was followed by Kerikeri's Western Hills (87mm), Kaeo East (85mm) and Glenbervie Forest (80.5mm).