Rivers drop but flooding keeps some Southland roads closed – صحيفة الصوت

It’s ‘’touch and go’’ whether a main Southland road will be affected by flooding on Wednesday night.

Late on Wednesday afternoon a Southland District Council spokesperson said Tokanui Gorge Road could be affected by floodwaters later in the evening.

The Mataura River at Wyndham looked to be peaking earlier, but it has started to rise slowly again and looks as if it will peak just at the threshold of affecting Tokanui Gorge Road, the spokesperson said.

“If it does it would likely be later tonight,’’ the spokesperson said.

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* Southland roads affected by rising rivers

”We should start to see a peak at Seaward Downs at about 5pm.’’

The Mataura River peaked at 2.787m at Mataura at 9.30 on Wednesday morning, which is only just under the threshold (2.8m) for water to affect Tokanui Gorge Road.

Paddy’s Alley and Nokomai Rd in Northern Southland, and roads in the Ardlussa area had reopened with some minor surface damage from flood waters.

A large tree had got hung up on the Irthing Stream bridge on Tuesday closing Lowther Road but engineers have checked the bridge and cleared it for use, the spokesperson said.

The Gore District Council closed some roads after the Mataura River rose ‘’significantly’’ overnight on Tuesday, it said.

On Wednesday afternoon, Woolwich St from Huron St to Boundary Road; Maitland St from the stop bank west, and River Street from Hyde St to Bury St and from Clover Export’s plant to Salford St all remained closed to traffic.

Environment Southland issued an update at 3.30pm on Wednesday which advised the Mataura River was dropping, except at Seaward Downs, where it was 2.86 metres above normal and rising 25 mm/hour.

The Oreti River at Wallacetown was also dropping, the update said.

Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency has a warning in place for rockfalls on State Highway 94 from Kingston to Frankton, and road users are advised to take extra care when travelling through the area.