Eight properties have been red-stickered after slip or flood damage in the Western Bay of Plenty. <\/p>\n
Parker said six were in the Welcome Bay area and two in \u014cmokoroa.<\/p>\n
A red placard indicated a building was unsafe to enter, while yellow indicated restricted access due to moderate damage or risks such as unstable ground or adjacent slips.<\/p>\n
Yellow placards have been issued to a property in the Welcome Bay area and two in Katikati.<\/p>\n
Tauranga City Council emergency management duty controller Gareth Wallis said properties in Welcome Bay, Gate P\u0101, Bethlehem, and \u014ct\u016bmoetai had received rapid assessments, and this work was ongoing.<\/p>\n
These mainly focused on buildings with landslip risks.<\/p>\n
Two yellow placards have been issued in Gate Pa, one in Bellevue and one in \u014ct\u016bmoetai so far.<\/p>\n
Wallis said these buildings were considered potentially dangerous and could not be fully occupied.<\/p>\n
Parks and public spaces<\/p>\n
Mauao<\/p>\n
All tracks, access points, and surrounding areas of Mauao are closed until further notice, after large slips made the area unsafe and as rescue efforts continue.<\/p>\n
P\u0101p\u0101moa Hills Cultural Heritage Regional Park <\/p>\n
There are more than a dozen slips in the park, blocking vehicle and pedestrian access and damaging tracks, the Bay of Plenty Regional Council said.<\/p>\n
The slips remain active, and there is an ongoing risk to public safety.<\/p>\n
Papamoa Hills in better weather.<\/p>\n
Mount Drury<\/p>\n
Mount Drury is closed as a precautionary measure while the Tauranga City Council assesses any potential risks.<\/p>\n
The area, including the playground, will be fenced off while conditions are monitored. The playground will remain closed at least through the long weekend.<\/p>\n
Beaches<\/p>\n
Mount Maunganui<\/p>\n
Surf Lifesaving NZ eastern region manager Chaz Gibbons-Campbell said caution was needed if people ventured out into the water.<\/p>\n
He said there was a lot of debris in the water, so the guards at Mount Maunganui did not have flags up.<\/p>\n
Access to the main beach was restricted.<\/p>\n
Mount Maunganui Lifeguard Service chairman Brent Warner said lifeguard patrols would continue as normal.<\/p>\n
People could help by swimming between the flags at Tay St, rather than the main beach.<\/p>\n
P\u0101p\u0101moa<\/p>\n
Gibbons-Campbell said the water was murky and full of silt, logs and sticks.<\/p>\n
He said a man who went to pick up rubbish at the water\u2019s edge ended up trapped and pinned by a log near the Fresh Choice.<\/p>\n
The man\u2019s ankle was badly injured.<\/p>\n
Anniversary weekend<\/p>\n
Gibbons-Campbell advised people heading to the beach this long weekend to look out for the red and yellow flags.<\/p>\n
\u201cKeep an eye out for those logs and debris that could be in the water, and don\u2019t let your kids play in those logs, especially in the shallows.\u201d<\/p>\n
Campsites and walking tracks<\/p>\n
Department of Conservation (DoC) Tauranga operations manager John Sutton urged holidaymakers to check their destinations and choose safe options.<\/p>\n
\u201cEmergency services have enough on their plates.\u201d<\/p>\n
DoC staff were still checking that some popular locations were safe after the severe weather.<\/p>\n
When using open DoC tracks, visitors should be alert to the possibility of landslides, washouts, or downed trees.<\/p>\n
Holiday parks<\/p>\n
The Welcome Bay and Waih\u012b Beach NZMCA motorhome parks and Waih\u012b Beach Tasman Holiday Park are closed, along with Mount Maunganui Beachside Holiday Park.<\/p>\n
Tauranga<\/p>\n
The Waikareao Estuary Walkway (Daisy Hardwick) is closed.<\/p>\n
McLarens Falls Park and \u014cmanawa Falls<\/p>\n
Camping at the park will remain closed for the long weekend. Much of the park is also closed while crews complete risk assessments and remove fallen trees.<\/p>\n
Tourism Bay of Plenty said \u014cmanawa Falls was closed.<\/p>\n
Karangahake Gorge<\/p>\n
The gorge remains closed while damage is assessed.<\/p>\n
Sutton said it had been particularly hard hit and it would take time for tracks and facilities to recover.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou might have seen videos of water rushing through the tunnel of the Windows Walk,\u201d Sutton said.<\/p>\n
Dickey Flat campsite was closed until further notice.<\/p>\n
Matat\u0101<\/p>\n
Matat\u0101 campsite, near Whakat\u0101ne, is closed until Tuesday.<\/p>\n
Roads<\/p>\n
NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA) Bay of Plenty system manager Sandra King said roading crews were working to clear slips and reopen vital transport links.<\/p>\n
State highways still closed:<\/p>\n
SH2\u00a0Matat\u0101\u00a0to Edgecumbe:\u00a0likely to\u00a0open\u00a0late\u00a0on Saturday with traffic management in place.\u00a0SH2 \u014cp\u014dtiki to\u00a0Matawai\u00a0(Waioweka\u00a0Gorge) is still being assessed and the only detour is SH2 south of Gisborne.SH35 Tikitiki\u00a0north to\u00a0P\u014dtaka remains\u00a0closed due to slips,\u00a0flooding\u00a0and debris.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe immediate focus has been getting roads open again, but we may not be out of the woods yet,\u201d King said. <\/p>\n
\u201cOver the coming days and weeks, the ground will be very sodden and the roads remain susceptible to movement, potholes, landsides, overslips, and underslips. We urge people to remain extremely careful.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Eight properties have been red-stickered after slip or flood damage in the Western Bay of Plenty. Parker said…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":248759,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[74,95,1561,5201,8606,42,2190,43,1118,1562,1314,89818,6563,1961,40,38,41,39,4767,14605],"class_list":["post-248758","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-after","tag-and","tag-bay","tag-closed","tag-closures","tag-headlines","tag-long","tag-news","tag-of","tag-plenty","tag-road","tag-slips","tag-storms","tag-this","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-weekend","tag-whats"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/248758","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=248758"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/248758\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/248759"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=248758"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=248758"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=248758"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}