Opotiki Flooded Again

With memories of last May's disastrous floods still fresh in their minds, residents of Opotiki watched last month's torrential rains with fatalistic foreboding. But they did not anticipate two major floods in four days.

On Friday, February 21, the Otara River came up in high flood and spilled into the town. Volunteer gangs fought a long and often unsuccessful battle sandbagging the banks, retired exhausted after a vital struggle on the Sunday night. But their respite was brief. Another 12 hours of heavy rain brought the Waioeka River up in the biggest spate for years. The peak of this flood came at 2 a.m. Tuesday, when for the second time in a few days the main part of the town was again under water.

(Photographs by Rikos Portraitures)