![\"Damage](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/4JU0TWP_10854_jpg.jpeg\")
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\nDamage in the Wairata Valley following torrential rain on 16 January that brought down slips on SH2, closing the Waioweka Gorge.
\nPhoto: Supplied \/ Rebecca Redpath\n<\/p>\n
Several families living in the Waioweka Gorge in Bay of Plenty remain isolated, two weeks after dozens of slips came down.<\/p>\n
The landslides have closed kilometres of State Highway 2<\/a> – the main route between \u014cp\u014dtiki and Gisborne and helicopters have been taking supplies to the cut-off locals.<\/p>\n Even before last week’s storm laid waste to North Island communities – families in the Waioweka Gorge<\/a> were isolated.<\/p>\n On Friday 16 January, torrential rain brought down multiple slips on SH2, trapping around 40 motorists<\/a>, who had to be evacuated by helicopter.<\/p>\n On the family farm in the Wairata Valley, Rebecca Redpath said the rain was relentless.<\/p>\n “It was just coming down in sheets … you often get heavy rain, but it doesn’t last, and this just lasted, and lasted, and lasted.”<\/p>\n The nearby creek turned into a roaring torrent as boulders came crashing down, she said.<\/p>\n \nDamage in the Wairata Valley on 16 January. The damage to the gorge road, meant her in-laws Bob and Mary Redpath – who were away – had to be helicoptered to their home.<\/p>\n Bob Redpath said while they had had floods in the past – the damage had never been this extensive, and the bird’s-eye-view from the chopper was sobering.<\/p>\n “We’ve had nothing this complete. Every creek, every little spring has blown out.<\/p>\n “It was just so much rain – 160mm in two hours – and y’know, nature can’t deal with that.”<\/p>\n Mary Redpath said in her 47 years on the farm, she’d never seen anything like it, with streams rerouted 10 metres away from their original course.<\/p>\n “It’s … totally mindboggling.”<\/p>\n She said they were lucky the deluge came at a time when no one was out on the farm and in danger from rushing water and slips.<\/p>\n “Because we would never expect this to happen. Tracks here on the farm – you’ve got to scramble over rocks and debris and trees.<\/p>\n “The whole land has just slipped away in places that it’s never slipped before and washed out all these fences, and it’s like, ‘Where do you begin?'”<\/p>\n Bob Redpath said the ongoing gorge closure, had meant their farmstay operation has come to a grinding halt.<\/p>\n “This is our prime part of the season, so we have had people booked right through … to autumn.<\/p>\n “We’ve had to ring people and say, ‘Look, you’re on standby but it doesn’t look like you’re going to be able to get in here, so very sorry, we’ll have to try that again another day.'”<\/p>\n But, he’s philosophical about it.<\/p>\n “Yeah, it is rough. But hey, you live in a wild place like the Waioweka Gorge occasionally these things jump out and bite you in the bum.”<\/p>\n Rebecca Redpath said the impact of the road’s closure went well beyond her family, and she was just hopeful they would be able to drive out this weekend in time for her children to start school in Hawke’s Bay, next week.<\/p>\n \nOne of the slips blocking State Highway 2 through Waiwoeka Gorge. NZ Transport Agency regional transport services manager Mark Owen said crews were working overtime to reopen the section of SH2, but it was a huge job.<\/p>\n “Unfortunately, there’s been massive damage in there, so again crews are working away, beavering away at each end – they’re doing a full assessment.”<\/p>\n He was hopeful they could provide a timeframe for opening later this week.<\/p>\n “The good news, is that we think the road will probably be okay, but we’ve got massive slips that have come down … so we can clear and get a lane but then we’ve actually got to stabilise the hill as well.<\/p>\n “Then once the river recedes we then need to determine whether we’ve got any under-slips where the river may have scoured into the highway,” Owen said.<\/p>\n “Teams are working, we’ve got all the expertise that we need, it’s just going to take some time.”<\/p>\n \nDamage in the Wairata Valley following torrential rain on 16 January. \u014cp\u014dtiki mayor David Moore said up to 30 people were living in the gorge, which ran through both \u014cp\u014dtiki and Gisborne districts.<\/p>\n He said the council’s civil defence teams had been working together since its closure.<\/p>\n “There’s people who’ve been in and out for medical appointments. There were some people that were in there that needed to get out and people that needed to get in.”<\/p>\n Moore said \u014cp\u014dtiki town was lucky to dodge the severe weather that ripped across the North Island last week, but the damage on the outskirts – especially on the highways – had been significant.<\/p>\n “It’s caused a lot of damage in the Waioweka Gorge, which is our main arterial route, transport route – lifeline for Gisborne.<\/p>\n “[It’s] one of three roads to Gisborne, and all three roads are out now.”<\/p>\n \nDamage to State Highway 35 from a landslide.![\"Damage](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/4JU0TWP_10856_jpg.jpeg\")
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\nPhoto: Supplied \/ Rebecca Redpath\n<\/p>\n![\"One](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/4JUGRCF_Waioweka_slip_jpg.jpeg\")
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\nPhoto: Supplied\n<\/p>\n![\"Damage](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/4JU0TWP_10962_jpg.jpeg\")
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\nPhoto: Supplied \/ Rebecca Redpath\n<\/p>\n![\"Damage](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/4JUB3BF_SH35_Hicks_Bay_Hotel_slip_jpeg.jpeg\")
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\nPhoto: Supplied \/ NZTA\n<\/p>\n