Winds and wet cause problems

GALE force winds and saturated soils caused localised problems in the Manawatu District at the weekend with slips and a number of uprooted trees creating road access problems.

Pine trees had fallen across Rangiwahia, Spur and Oroua Valley Roads, restricting traffic for a period of time, while slips were reported on Awahou South and Oroua Valley Roads and on No 1 Line, Pohangina.

Roading Engineer, Jim Mestyanek, said a specialist logging crew needed a grapple and large chainsaws to remove the large tree that blocked Spur Road, between Watershed and Pohangina Roads, for most of Monday and Tuesday.

He said it appeared a south-easterly wind - which had caused considerable damage in the Pohangina Valley last July - was again responsible.

“The prevailing wind is a westerly and trees grow stronger in that direction, so if they get hit from behind they don’t tend to have the same root structure support,” he said. “And when the ground is saturated, stability becomes an issue.”
Mr Mestyanek said the most at-risk tree varieties tended to be exotic, such as pine, gum and macrocarpa.
“Last year we lost the occasional beech tree, but for the most part, native trees do far better than exotics,” he said.

Mr Mestyanek said there had been a large slip and a downed power line across Awahou South Road and a number of other smaller spills in the area.

Contractors used a digger and dump trucks to clear the 100 cubic metres of soil that blocked the road after first clearing access for the power company to repair the line and make the area safe.