Coromandel facing ‘very real anxiety’ after SH25 slip halts buses, freight

[ad_1]

SH25 was damaged after heavy rainfall overnight on Sunday, causing a slip between Hikuai and Opoutere.

WAKA KOTAHI

SH25 was damaged after heavy rainfall overnight on Sunday, causing a slip between Hikuai and Opoutere.

Schools and parents are anxious children could be cut off while some supermarkets are awaiting delayed freight deliveries after an under slip on State Highway 25 between Whangamatā and Hikuai grew.

The Coromandel is facing “some very real anxiety” with the main arterial on the eastern side of the peninsula reduced to one lane, cutting off buses, freight and heavy vehicles.

On Tuesday afternoon the slip worsened and more cracks appeared. Road workers were digging into a bank to extend the road away from the drop. Some motorists were turned around and Waka Kotahi later advised the road would be closed overnight due to the slip deteriorating.

For Sarah Rogers, it had been “a juggle” to get her two sons to Hauraki Plains College in Ngātea.

READ MORE:
* Road falls away on SH25 in ‘another blow’ for Coromandel Peninsula
* ‘Soul destroying’ wait for those cut off and left out of ‘Coromandel loop’
* Do the loop pitch to tourists as main road over Coromandel out of action for a year
* The washout summer: Auckland’s Coromandel playground faces tough decisions

Their usual 50-minute bus trip from their home in Tairua had turned into a two-hour detour after the SH25 route was reduced to light vehicles only.

She was considering finding a boarding house for her sons, or as a last resort even buying a second rental closer to Hauraki.

”It’s a long day for the boys, but they are handling it,” Rogers said.

”We’ve just had to make it work … we’ve had to get them to stay at friends for a night or there is a teacher that travels back to Tairua, organising other people to have your children is a juggle.”

Rogers was not sure how long SH25 would hold up and if it worsened they would be in “a big situation”.

“The whole town had been affected … it’s not been the summer or the year we were expecting.”

Those in Coromandel said it had been very stressful dealing with restrictions on SH25 after already losing the arterial SH25A route.

Stuff

Those in Coromandel said it had been very stressful dealing with restrictions on SH25 after already losing the arterial SH25A route.

For Whangamatā Area School principal, Alastair Luke, his focus was reaching over 85 of his students based in Tairua who were cut off.

“The school bus that brings those students over each day is unable to make that journey.”

Luke said they were considering having two teachers based on the Tairua side of the slip deliver lessons remotely for students.

In the meantime, students have been asked to travel in their own vehicles.

SH25A which collapsed after weeks of bad weather was expected to be out of action for up to 12 months.

SUPPLIED

SH25A which collapsed after weeks of bad weather was expected to be out of action for up to 12 months.

“The reality of what it is like to be trapped in is really starting to hit home for some … I think that’s been exacerbated by SH25A which would have been an alternative route being also out of action.”

Emergency services were still able to use the road, but staff were being “strategically placed in areas most likely to be impacted,” a spokesperson from Hato Hone St John said.

Freight had been temporarily delayed as well.

Staff at SuperValue Pauanui had been waiting for fresh produce for two days so far and things that people “rely on” like fresh milk and bread and produce were “taking a bit longer”.

“We’ve had a few of these catastrophes with no power for a week and things like that so we’ve been stocking up,” assistant manager, Steve Mobbs-Brown said.

“It just puts another hour or so on the delivery time because the trucks have to come the long way round.”

A washout on SH25 on the Coromandel Peninsula is between Hikuai and Opoutere.

Google

A washout on SH25 on the Coromandel Peninsula is between Hikuai and Opoutere.

Foodstuffs said “the washout of SH25 isn’t ideal” but trucks were still able to travel down SH25, north of Thames.

They were working to complete all scheduled deliveries to the affected areas by Tuesday afternoon.

“Our drivers and supply chain team members are doing a fantastic job of keeping our stores replenished, despite the ongoing challenges of road closures,” the spokesperson said.

[ad_2]

Leave a Comment