Martin Van Beynen05:00, Jun 05 2021
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Beef and dairy farmer Rob Withers saw his Springburn farm, near Mt Somers, ravaged in the Canterbury floods, the geography of the land itself entirely redrawn by the power of the water.
An intensively farmed region of Canterbury lying between the north branch of the Ashburton/Hakatere and Hinds rivers was one of the hardest-hit by this week s floods. Reporter MARTIN VAN BEYNEN spent four days in the area assessing the impact. Farmers in Mid-Canterbury knew it would be bad. The MetService warned that 200-300 millimetres of rain was expected to “accumulate” about the high country between 3pm on Saturday and 11am on Monday. The rain would cause dangerous river conditions and significant flooding, the agency said.
He said some trucks that had to get their freight south were taking the detour. “One or two that absolutely have to are.”
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Engineers inspected the Hakatere Bridge on Tuesday afternoon, but high river levels meant a full assessment was not possible. Most trucks that carried freight along State Highway 1 were 50MAX, he said, a new generation of truck that allows for safe and more efficient transport of freight goods by having weight spread more evenly. Some West Coast roads were not suited for 50MAX trucks, he said. “The industry will do what we can to get going. We’re certainly limited by what roading is available.
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