Weather mayhem hits West Coast, road links
Heavy rain, flooding, slips and road washouts have ruined holiday travel.
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Infrastructure
Heavy rain, flooding, slips and road washouts have ruined holiday travel in many parts of the South Island.
A washed out single-lane bridge over the Wanganui river at Harhari, south of Hokitika, has cut state highway 6 through the Haast pass to Central Otago – a key holiday travel route.
The washout also cut cable communication links to communities to the south, such as Fox Glacier and Franz Josef, and prevented dairy farmers in South Westland from delivering milk to the local dairy factory.
The link is unlikely to be restored for a couple of days.
Eight cars were stranded overnight in the Bulerl gorge near Westport by slips, while state highway 73 at Arthur's pass through the Southern Alps to Canterbury was closed by flooding in some parts.
Torrential rain and flooding has also affected state highway 94 through to Milford Sound in Fiordland.
The weather system has moved north through the Nelson region and rain is predicted to ease today. Meanwhile, Civil Defence is assessing the damage throughout Westland as the weather clears.
Air travel was briefly affected in Wellington, where a Jetstar flight was forced to abort its landing and return to Auckland because of high winds.
NBR staff
Thu, 03 Jan 2013
Thu, 03 Jan 2013
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Weather mayhem hits West Coast, road links
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