Friday, March 29, 2024

One road link re-opens

Neal Wallace
Flooding is still preventing milk collection from at least four South Canterbury dairy farms today though State Highway 72 has opened
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Farmers are helping each other by providing access to sheds to milk cows and offering heavy machinery to take feed to stock stranded by floodwater, Federated Farmers South Canterbury dairy chairman Ads Hendricks said.

Flooding of the two bridges over the Rangitata River severed the link between the south and north last night but State Highway 72, the inland route via the Orari Bridge, was reopened this afternoon.

State Highway 1 at Rangitata remains closed because of flooding and flood damage.

Stock appears to be coping but it could be a different story for infrastructure with damage to several houses, at least one dairy shed, machinery sheds, fences and roads.

“Once it recedes it will be interesting to see how much work is needed,” Hendriks said.

The worst hit area is between the north and south branches of the Rangitata River.

Ssome farmers are using helicopters to get to their stock and their farms.

Others are using large tractors to ford swollen waters to get silage and feed to stranded stock.

While only 37.5mm fell on his Geraldine farm yesterday the weather front stalled between Waimate and Ashburton for the day, he said.

Combined with more than 200mm that fell in the headwaters the Rangitata River burst its banks across the plains late yesterday.

At its peak the river was flowing at 2500 cubic metres a second.

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