Weekend's Flooding

We had some 30mm of rain here in Palmerston North on Friday, then on Saturday the rains simply didn't stop. Though not torrential, it just kept on raining... People were becoming afraid we might have a repeat of the 2004 floods, but thankfully for us in the city, the stopbanks gave us ample protection. We had about 132mm of rain on Saturday, but fortunately, hardly any on Sunday, and the sun even poked through a little.

The same cannot be said for those in some other areas though- and our thoughts are with people in flooded parts of Whanganui- and in Waitotara and Whangaehu. And some in the rural areas not far from our city have suffered too, and it seems that the marae at Rangiotu, te Rangimarie, has been badly flooded.

Here are some photos taken near the river on Saturday and Sunday. On Sunday the river peaked around lunchtime, before falling again.

This first photo was taken on Saturday at the end of Ruahine St when the waters were ponding in an area where people can usually run their dogs. And the second photo was taken on Sunday when the waters had become a raging torrent- same spot.

These next two photos were taken from the 'lookout' over the river, near the bridge, just below the Esplanade. On Saturday I ventured out onto it, though you could hear/feel the water flowing through underneath. On Sunday, you could barely even see the lookout.

There were many sightseers on Sunday, taking a look at how our popular riverside walking track was no longer accessible.

 I'll go back another day to see how high on our flood marker these waters came.

And for now, all due credit to the engineers who designed our stopbanks. Though it may have been 'annoying' to lose access to the river when they were being constructed, when the rains come like this, we are very much glad to have them.