MEDIA RELEASE FROM

New Zealand Historic Places Trust Pouhere Taonga
For immediate release

Kemp House ‘high and dry’ despite rising river

March 2

While most of Kerikeri slept during Friday night’s weather event, Liz Bigwood was down at the Basin keeping close tabs on the rising water.

Continuous heavy rain throughout Friday evening prompted NIWA to raise the river flood alert with Liz, the Manager of the Kerikeri Mission Station, with the sobering news that the river levels were likely to increase throughout the night.

“As a result of the warning, I was down at the Basin at about 1am on Saturday morning, and could see that water levels had risen to the vineyard about 3m away from Kemp House,” says Liz.

“The river peaked at about 3am and I left about an hour later when I could see that the levels were falling.”

Although inconvenient, the result could have been much, much worse.

“NIWA reported that the rainfall was more than the amount we experienced in July 2007, when we had to think seriously about evacuating Kemp House – but not quite as high as March that same year, when we actually had to evacuate the house,” she says.

“The simple fact is that if the road bridge had still been there trapping debris, as it was two years ago, it is highly likely that we would have had to evacuate the house in the very early hours of Saturday morning,” she says.

“As it happens, with the bridge gone the house and its contents were never in danger – despite a very angry-looking river.”

The only bit of debris left behind was a couple of tufts of tree branch caught underneath the small adventure ford.

The site of the water roaring unimpeded through the Basin was awe-inspiring, according to Liz.

“It’s no wonder that the Kororipo Basin had such mana with Maori – without the bridge present, its infamous whirlpool really kicked into life. When I was down there, the whirlpool almost covered the entire width of the river generating a frightening amount of power.”

Despite the impressive vortex that was created by the sheer volume of water flow, the river functioned efficiently discharging the deluge without causing any serious flooding problems in the Basin.

“When you stand on the verandah of Kemp House you can see all the debris from this latest storm washed far down stream, rather than banked up behind the bridge that was adjacent to the mission station,” she says.

“As a result, river levels – though high – were never going to be the flood problem they have been in the past.”

The New Zealand Historic Places Trust continues to monitor the river levels through NIWA to ensure that the effects of any weather events are accurately monitored.

“Friday night provided real evidence that removal of the bridge has hugely reduced the threat of flooding, but we’re continuing to be vigilant,” says Liz.

“Although we’re confident that much of the danger to Kemp House and the Stone Store has been removed, you never know what’s around the corner. That’s why we want to be right on top of things at all times.”

Caption: (Photo 1): Liz Bigwood stands at the highest point reached by the river during last Friday night’s weather event. The point is marked by the line of leaves left as a kind of ‘high tide’ mark – a sharp contrast to the reality of March 2007 (Photo 2) when water lapped around the base of Kemp House, prompting its evacuation.

ENDS

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