Severe weather causes flooding, closed roads, outage of water supply

TCDC working closely with Hauraki District Council to restore water supply

Severe weather has caused flooding throughout the Coromandel Peninsula, stopped water supply to some residents in Puriri and Hikutaia and is forecast to worsen in the next 12hrs.

Already 160mm has fallen in the past 24hrs and with forecasts of between 50mm and 90mm between 9pm tonight and 9am tomorrow it is expected that residents will continue to be isolated by road flooding.

Roads are closed at SH25 at Manaia according to current information from NZTA which manage state highways. An electronic road sign will be placed in Totara, near Thames, to update drivers on closures but people are advised to avoid driving to the Coromandel unless absolutely necessary. For up to date information check on the NZTA website www.nzta.org.nz

A slip at the 309 Rd 5km from the Coromandel end is expected to be cleared soon but caution is called for at Hikuai and entry roads to Pauanui and Hot Water Beach where surface flooding is reported and high tide is due around 6pm.

In Puriri and Hikutaia several residents are without town water supply due to a blockage in the water intake maintained by Hauraki District Council. Customer Services Manager Janice Mercer says both councils are working closely to resolve the issue but it could be up to several days before a drinking water supply can be safely re-established.

"Essentially the water intake is blocked and it is still too dangerous for our guys to get into the swollen streams in order to unblock it. We are aware of the problem and doing all we can to address it, but in the meantime we're advising residents to boil any water they're using from their own holding tanks - which a number of them have."