WHATEVER NEXT

Last night as the storm raged we were watching the Repair Shed.  During the "ads" I went into the kitchen to get a glass of water only to find water dripping through the ceiling. After putting down newspaper and buckets we emptied the airing cupboard as that is where the manhole to the ceiling hides.  Doug fetched a small kitchen ladder and managed to get the cover down but then needed a higher ladder in order to see into the roof.  He had to go outside and to the bottom of the garden in the pouring rain for this.  

He didn't get into the roof but could see pretty well from the top of the ladder but could find nothing.  At this stage the rain had eased a bit and so had the drips.  We then went to put the kettle on and discovered the isolating switch for the kitchen had tripped so that was reset.

We went to bed and hoped for the best but I could hear quite heavy rain in the night.

When I woke this morning I checked and there was no further leak.  We then put the news on and discovered the problem.  Whangarei was the main item on the news - apparently 220 millimetres of rain fell in ten hours with most of it being at the time the water came through the ceiling.  Our roof is tiled and the leak was where there is a valley - we think that the extra heavy rain combined with strong winds the water got under some tiles causing the problem

As for the region as a whole there are slips everywhere - emergency centres have been opened both here in Whangarei and further north for travellers unable to get any further because of road closures.  Firefighters were busy overnight with one firetruck having to be pulled out of floods.  It is being called a one in 500 year event.  A group of twelve were stuck in a service station in town overnight as the flood waters raged outside.  

The Hatea River at Whaeora Road, where we walked on Monday peaked at over 500 cubic metres per second at 10 p.m. - that's half a million litres a second.

Two of the water treatment plants here have been closed down due to the heavy rain and we are being asked to conserve water.  The main highway is closed near the centre of town due to slips.  At least the forecast for the next week has gone down to just showers.

The latest just half an hour ago is that there are two breaks in the sewer lines.  Happy days.  This is just what we don't need as it will cost thousands of dollars to put everything right on top of Covid.

On a happier note I pulled the first carrots for lunch.  They went into a stir-fry with some broccoli side shoots, sugar snap peas and pak choi.

Thee is now a lull in the rain so while Doug took Sophie for a short stroll I did our usual walk around the streets - everything looked pretty good apart from this retaining wall at the end of our street 

and some scouring of the road further on.  Not much damage considering the area as a whole.