Streets flooded, homes inundated<\/p>\n
In Stokes Valley, residents described rapidly rising water in what many say is the worst flooding the area has experienced in years \u2013 and in some cases, decades.<\/p>\n
Local Eugene Grant said a manhole burst about 7.30am, blasting water more than 2m into the air and sending silt surging down the street.<\/p>\n
\u201cWater was basically up to our doorways \u2026 we could feel it coming through the floorboards and thought, \u2018okay, we need to get out of here\u2019,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Grant said his family tried to evacuate but found roads blocked.<\/p>\n
The floodwaters later receded, leaving thick silt, with neighbours now racing to clean up before more rain arrives.<\/p>\n
He said it was the worst flooding he had seen in the area in 16 years.<\/p>\n
Long-time resident Helen Coffey said it was the worst flooding she had witnessed in more than 40 years.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was really quite bad, it was really frightening, because we just don\u2019t know what\u2019s coming.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nearby, Alice Odean said floodwater reached the second step of her front porch, leaving her to clear heavy silt from her driveway.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m feeling angry \u2026 It\u2019s just clean up and wait for the next round.\u201d<\/p>\n
Local Navneet Kant said water reached his driveway hedge and flooded his car.<\/p>\n
Plimmerton residents battle repeat flooding<\/p>\n
In coastal Plimmerton, residents spent the day sandbagging and clearing drains as a nearby stream overflowed, sending water into homes \u2013 in what locals said is another in a series of serious flooding events.<\/p>\n
One property sustained damage to a garage and bedroom, with neighbours stepping in to help while the home owners were away.<\/p>\n
Local volunteer Damo said the stream floods \u201cpretty much every time there\u2019s a big storm\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just thought I\u2019d come down \u2026 try to get things cleared up and hopefully mitigate as much property damage as we can,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He said drains were often clogged, despite repeated calls for maintenance.<\/p>\n
His mother, Irene, said she woke to heavy rain but didn\u2019t realise the scale of flooding until later in the morning.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese poor people \u2026 this is the second time in four to five years that they\u2019ve been flooded out like this, and it\u2019s not fair on them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fire crews and locals worked to clear drains, helping water recede more quickly than in past events, but residents say the underlying problem remains.<\/p>\n
Porirua Mayor Anita Baker said 40mm had fallen in Plimmerton over a two-hour period, with more forecast over the next 12 hours.<\/p>\n
More rain on the way<\/p>\n
Authorities said the situation remains fluid, with more heavy rain forecast later in the day.<\/p>\n
Neely urged people not to drive through floodwaters and to call 111 if their life or safety was at risk.<\/p>\n
With saturated ground and swollen waterways, residents are being warned to prepare for further disruption as the next bands of rain move through.<\/p>\n
– RNZ<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Streets flooded, homes inundated In Stokes Valley, residents described rapidly rising water in what many say is the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":385516,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[806,23604,29815,6183,22191,40488,5346,3092,71,130,111,43,139,69,39995,37250,6560,16189,21047,6634,52],"class_list":{"0":"post-385515","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-zealand","8":"tag-as","9":"tag-causes","10":"tag-downpours","11":"tag-dozens","12":"tag-ellen","13":"tag-evacuated","14":"tag-expected","15":"tag-floods","16":"tag-from","17":"tag-more","18":"tag-new-zealand","19":"tag-news","20":"tag-newzealand","21":"tag-nz","22":"tag-odwyer","23":"tag-penny","24":"tag-rain","25":"tag-smith","26":"tag-suburbs","27":"tag-torrential","28":"tag-wellington"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/385515","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=385515"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/385515\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/385516"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=385515"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=385515"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=385515"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}