Hundreds cut off in South Wairarapa as floods wash out the same Lake Ferry bridge for the second time this year

Hundreds of people in the far south of the Wairarapa are once again stranded behind a broken bridge, after this week’s storm tore out the Tūranganui River crossing on Lake Ferry Road and cut the only sealed route to a string of coastal settlements.

The South Wairarapa District Council says about 460 homes have been left with limited access, including residents at Lake Ferry, Ngāwi, Whāngaimoana and Cape Palliser. Around 180 properties were also without electricity as the rain eased, and emergency staff have warned that some families could be isolated for several days while repairs get under way.

It is the same bridge, on the same road, that failed in February. Back then locals formed human chains across the river to pass food and supplies to the other side. This time the floodwaters have done even more damage, with the river breaching its banks, changing direction and now running alongside the structure, washing away the road near one of the bridge supports.

South Wairarapa Mayor Dame Fran Wilde made no attempt to hide her frustration. Speaking to RNZ, she said the extent of the damage was far worse than expected and that the storm had not tracked the way forecasters predicted. “The same bridges and roads that we’ve repaired earlier this year have been washed out again, so I’m kind of at my wits end,” she said.

Wilde said there was no quick fix coming. “It is going to be a little bit of time before we open the Tūranganui bridge,” she told RNZ. “It won’t be before the middle of the week, I understand.” The Wairarapa Emergency Operations Centre later said the crossing was expected to be reinstated about halfway through next week, with a second damaged bridge at Ponatahi closed until at least Monday afternoon.

For a district of around 12,000 people, the repeated battering is wearing thin. Wilde pointed out that severe weather now seems to arrive roughly every eight weeks, leaving the council scrambling to fix the same lifeline routes before the next system rolls in. Each repair is expensive, and each new washout sets the work back to the start.

On the ground, the focus has shifted to keeping people fed, watered and warm. Civil Defence staff and the emergency operations centre have been weighing up whether to move food and supplies in by boat across Lake Onoke or by helicopter, while residents have been using back roads through private farms to check on one another and share what they have.

Local coordinator Vicky Prout, who has been helping organise relief, told Farmers Weekly the community was looking at every option to get essentials in. “They are trying to get access through one of the farms, and if that doesn’t work they will use a helicopter,” she said.

The shopping list is basic but urgent. Water is the biggest worry, with several homes at Whāngaimoana unable to run their pumps because the power is out. Beyond that, people need milk, bread, butter, pet food and medicines. One elderly resident’s medication was due to run out by the end of the week, and there are children among those cut off who need their own supplies. A group of 11 people at a local campsite were reported to be safe and coping.

The storm reached well beyond the Wairarapa coast. Power companies reported outages affecting thousands of homes across Wellington, Waikato, the Coromandel Peninsula, the Bay of Plenty, Taranaki, Whanganui and Manawatū as wind and rain brought down lines and trees. The far south of the Wairarapa, with its single vulnerable crossing, has simply been the worst hit.

What makes this latest washout sting is how familiar it has become. The communities behind the Tūranganui Bridge are small, remote and used to a degree of isolation, but they are also home to working farms, fishing operations at Ngāwi and a steady trickle of holiday-home owners who turn up without realising the road has gone. Each time the bridge fails, the same questions return about whether a one-lane crossing on a river that keeps shifting course is really fit for the climate the region is now living with.

For now, the answer from the council is patience. Crews need the river to settle and, in places, to be redirected before they can rebuild the approaches and reopen the road. Until then, the people of Lake Ferry, Ngāwi, Whāngaimoana and Cape Palliser are once again on their own side of the water, leaning on neighbours, farm tracks and the promise of a helicopter if things get tight.

Residents who need help, or who can offer supplies, have been asked to make contact through the local relief effort rather than attempt the crossing themselves.

Have you been caught out by the South Wairarapa floods, or do you live somewhere that keeps getting cut off when the weather turns? Share your story in the comments below.

This article was written by AI, briefed to report the facts, hopefully without some of the bias people bring to the job 🙂