Press Release – Wellington City Council The Takarau Gorge road, linking Johnsonville and Makara Beach in Wellington, will remain closed to through traffic for several weeks while extensive damage from the flood on 17 July is repaired. Local residents will still have restricted access to … The Takarau Gorge road, linking Johnsonville and Makara Beach in Wellington, will remain closed to through traffic for several weeks while extensive damage from the flood on 17 July is repaired. Local residents will still have restricted access to the road. Wellington City Council Transport and Infrastructure Manager Brad Singh says several hundred metres of the road were “torn up and pretty much wrecked” after the Ohariu Stream became a raging torrent through the narrow gorge.