Jo Hoyle News Today

Canterbury’s small braided rivers took much of the brunt of the flooding from the deluge of recent days, with many exceeding 10-year event record levels.

As the rains ease and river levels drop, residents are still cut off by damage to roads and bridges, and travellers remain stranded. Now scientists are trying to understand this event and the challenge of clean-up and recovery. The SMC asked experts to comment. ...

When two West Coast rivers flooded on the same day in 2019, the Waiho tore down a bridge and cut off local communities for 18 days, and the Fox eroded a landfill, exposing 135 tonnes of rubbish that contaminated beaches more than 100km away. A flood on the Rangitata River during the same year severed road, rail and power connections along the east coast of the South Island and cut a 25km path to the sea through prime dairy country. We shouldn’t be surprised when our rivers break their banks ...