Floods slow work on Mangawara Stream

Our thoughts and support goes out to those people in Auckland and the Coromandel who have been affected by the heavy rains over the weekend, where many homes and businesses have flooded.

The heavy rains caused a significant flood event for some of our projects with Waikato Regional Council’s water level logger recording a 3.5m rise in the Mangawara Stream in just a few short hours. Waikato RiverCare Inc. currently has four projects along the Mangawara Stream and all of them went underwater during the weekend.

Above left: The Tuna and Wildlife Project before fencing and flooding. Above right: The fence has been constructed but is now covered in water due to the rains over the weekend.

Fortunately, all planned earthworks on the Mangawara projects were completed in February, including much of the programmed weed control. However, fencing contractors had only just begun work on the Tuna and Wildlife project sites, completing the fencing on the first oxbow wetland and beginning on the second when the rains came.

Saturday morning saw contractors and Waikato RiverCare Inc. staff rushing to recover materials and machinery before the silt laden waters of the Mangawara Stream could carry them away. The contractors were able to recover their tractor and much of the fencing materials. However, a steady stream of ¼ round posts could be seen floating downstream towards Taupiri.

“It will be a busy week, assessing the damage and losses to the projects before repair works on the sites and fencing can begin,” says Kevin Hutchinson, Waikato RiverCare Inc.’s operations manager.

Waikato RiverCare Inc. would like to express their thanks to the Landon family for their efforts in helping out on Saturday morning and to the contractors for their speedy response which limited the adverse effects that this event could have caused for our projects.