{"id":286584,"date":"2026-02-16T10:12:07","date_gmt":"2026-02-16T10:12:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/286584\/"},"modified":"2026-02-16T10:12:07","modified_gmt":"2026-02-16T10:12:07","slug":"weather-local-farmers-clear-mudslide-which-trapped-20-vehicles-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/286584\/","title":{"rendered":"Weather: Local farmers clear mudslide which trapped 20 vehicles"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cA local farmer got stuck in with his tractor, carved a track through slips and released the cars,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He understood they were heading back to Taihape.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re safe, they\u2019re out and by the time the helicopter got there, there was no one to be found.\u201d<\/p>\n

Watson previously said he understood it was a local farmer who raised the alarm, calling emergency services to report what he could see.<\/p>\n

It had been very hard to get information, he said.<\/p>\n

It appears the cars took a back route after State Highway 1<\/a> was closed.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019ve found flood water that was too deep to drive through then slip has come down behind them and effectively blocked their path,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Michael McCartney, Manawat\u016b-Whanganui group controller and Horizons Regional Council chief executive, told Checkpoint an airforce helicopter was prepared to rescue the group, understood to be stuck near a rising river. <\/p>\n

He said power cuts caused problems with the mobile phone network and the location had poor coverage. <\/p>\n

McCartney said a motorist managed to call for help after accessing a single bar of coverage. <\/p>\n

A satellite phone would have made a big difference, he said.<\/p>\n

The council would open floodgates for 24 hours on the Manawatu River system this evening.<\/p>\n

McCartney said some water treatment plants had lost power and were relying on generators.<\/p>\n

Residents in the wider district have told RNZ there are trees blocking many roads, with people not able to get to work.<\/p>\n

SH1 has been closed around Taihape.<\/p>\n

Watson said some of the roads the cars took would normally only see \u201chalf a dozen\u201d vehicles a day, he said.<\/p>\n

Rangitikei District Council said contractors were working to clear debris, and it was working with Civil Defence on a response to the situation.<\/p>\n

Police said they were notified at 12.30pm.<\/p>\n

Establishing communication the priority<\/p>\n

Manawat\u016b-Whanganui Civil Defence said its first priority was to establish communication with those who were trapped.<\/p>\n

SH1 was closed between Hunterville and Waiouru and people should not use Turakina Valley Road as a detour<\/a>, it said.<\/p>\n

Many other local roads were also closed.<\/p>\n

People should avoid non-essential travel as the roads were treacherous from fallen trees and the possibility for landslides.<\/p>\n

Winiata Marae opens to stranded travellers<\/p>\n

About 80 people are sheltering at Winiata Marae, in Taihape.<\/p>\n

The marae\u2019s chairman Jordan Winiata said they were travellers who had become stranded. <\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re stranded because of what\u2019s happening on the highways, we\u2019ve got some InterCity buses, just multiple travellers that would have been going from A to B, that unfortunately have been caught in between the roads being open and closed.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said the marae was preparing to host those stranded overnight and had capacity for 300.<\/p>\n

Winiata said the power was out at the marae, but it had a generator, running water and gas for cooking.<\/p>\n

– RNZ<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cA local farmer got stuck in with his tractor, carved a track through slips and released the cars,\u201d…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":286585,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[2327,3470,12967,440,159542,111,43,139,69,42543,42542,8528,6861,4998,5977,13971],"class_list":{"0":"post-286584","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-zealand","8":"tag-2327","9":"tag-clear","10":"tag-farmers","11":"tag-local","12":"tag-mudslide","13":"tag-new-zealand","14":"tag-news","15":"tag-newzealand","16":"tag-nz","17":"tag-quinn","18":"tag-rowan","19":"tag-trapped","20":"tag-vehicles","21":"tag-weather","22":"tag-which","23":"tag-williams"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/286584","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=286584"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/286584\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/286585"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=286584"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=286584"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=286584"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}