Four people rescued from cars stuck in flood water in the Coromandel as residents are told to stay home

July 16, 2020

Four people have been rescued from two cars in the Coromandel this evening after the local council had urged people to stay off the roads due to heavy rain causing slips and flooding. 

Two vehicles had been stuck in flood water on Hikuai Settlement Road near Pauanui at around 7.50pm tonight.

Fire and Emergency have confirmed all four people are now safe and are being treated for hypothermia. 

MetService has issued a heavy rain warning for the region, and NZTA has confirmed three sections of SH25 plus SH25A still remain closed.

SH25 is closed between The 309 Rd and Whitianga and between Morrison Rd and Manaia Rd due to flooding, and between Hikuai and Whangamata due to a large slip just north of McBeth Rd.

State Highway 25A is also closed between Kopu and Hikuai due to a large slip near Puketui Valley Road.

The Thames-Coromandel District Council this afternoon asked residents to stay off the roads until tomorrow while roading contractors continue work to clean up slips and conduct other storm management.

In a statement this afternoon the council said it was "frustrated at the huge volumes of traffic still on the roads" and not listening to travel warnings.

"The entire Coromandel is getting battered and everyone needs to heed the warnings, stay off the roads and sit this out until tomorrow," Civil Defence controller Garry Towler said.

"It is going to get worse before things improve and high tide will undoubtably bring more closures so let’s not put our contractors at further risk."

The council says strong winds are also forecast to continue tonight, gusting to 100km per hour. It expects power outages around the region as trees and roofs come down on the network.

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