Flooding damages Western Bay road

Pongakawa Bush Road in the Western Bay of Plenty remains closed following the severe rainfall that lashed the region last week.

Flash flooding overnight Thursday caused major damage to the road.


Flooding in Pongakawa last week.

Western Bay of Plenty District Council group infrastructure manager Gary Allis says the road was badly damaged with scouring over 1m deep.

Scouring is essentially when rain water washes out the road surface.

'Pongakawa Bush Road is the only road still not open to traffic following the severe rainfall last week.

'Council's roading contractor WestLink has been working on repairing Pongakawa Bush Road every day since the storm (including Saturday and Sunday),” says Gary.

'They estimate another two or three more days' work is required before the road will be open to traffic.”


Pongakawa Bush Road sustained 1m deep scouring following flooding last week. Photos: Daniel Hines.

Gary says all residents on the road have access to their homes, although some may be using alternative routes.

'All other roads are open with minor tidy up work to be complete. This will be done within the next month as it's not urgent.

'WestLink engineers are checking watercourse scour (not structural issues) on Roydon Downs and Mystery Valley Road bridges.”

An estimate cost of repairs at this stage is $600,000. Council's contract with WestLink includes provision for $750,000 for emergency work repairs/storm damage in each year of the contract.

This event is the first claim against the allowance for 15/16 so there will be no additional cost to council to repair the damage from this event, says Gary.

A severe weather warning is in place for the Bay of Plenty today as the MetService is predicting heavy rain this afternoon.

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