Stoke resident Brendan Sinnot sweeping water out of his neighbour’s home after it was flooded on Sunday night. Photo: Andrew Board

Clean up begins

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2014

Some of the heaviest rainfall in the history of New Zealand has led to damage to more than 100 businesses and homes in Stoke, Richmond and Hope.
Many business and home owners spent most of yesterday surveying the damage to their properties, including Nelson City Council, which owns the badly-affected Saxton Stadium.
It is the second major flood the region has had in a year and a half and Nelson mayor Aldo Miccio described it as “horrendous”.
“This has affected many more people than the floods and slips in 2011 but nowhere near as bad as the people it affected a year ago. A lot of people will be hurting from this. There is damage all over Stoke and Richmond,” he says.
Flooding began on Sunday afternoon and 104 millimetres of rain was recorded at the Upper Roding catchment and 100mm in Stoke, close to the heaviest rainfall ever recorded in a one hour time frame in New Zealand. It led to blocked drains and flooding in parts of Stoke, the Wakatu Industrial Estate, many parts of Richmond including its CBD, and in Hope. 

Nelson city, Rocks Rd and Cable Bay were all reported to be fine and there have been no reported injuries resulting from the flood.
Dozens of homes flooded:
In Stoke, home owners furiously attempted to save valuables, lift furniture off the ground and ultimately watch in despair as water crept up walls and even came up through drain holes in their baths.
One such home owner, Madeline Delaney, was devastated. “I’m so sad, it is horrible just horrible.”
The Stoke street outside Madeline’s house was thigh-deep with water and several of her neighbours also suffered flood damage. Another Stoke resident, Stacey Davis, had to evacuate her home with her two young children. “I had a cry, it’s so heart-breaking. It just sucks and it happened so quickly. I was lucky my brother came to the rescue in his truck,” she says.
A Richmond home owner says his 24 foot boat was lifted off its trailer by the rising water in a garage at Wakatu Estate and began to float in the garage.
The official count of flood damaged homes was listed at 90 on Monday afternoon with dozens of businesses affected. The Insurance Council of NZ says there has already been 1500 claims made.

Emergency services praised:
Aldo Miccio, Nelson MP Nick Smith and Tasman mayor Richard Kempthorne all praised the work of the police and volunteer fire brigades during the flooding.
Nelson police launched private boats to evacuate people from houses around Richmond at the height of the flooding last night. About 40 police officers were on duty managing road closures, redirecting motorists, assisting those who were stranded and helping people evacuate from houses. Some of those were waist deep in water.
A number of Stillwater Gardens residents were evacuated to the Richmond Police station before being moved into another wing at the resthome. Police also moved a group of campers off the Appleby River bed prior to the floodwater reaching them.