State Highway 2 Waioweka Gorge Closed After Dozens of Landslides

State Highway 2 through the Waioweka Gorge is expected to remain closed for several weeks. A rescue was launched on Friday after extensive damage, caused by heavy rain, left more than 40 people stranded. More than 320 millimetres of rain fell within 48 hours, double the area's January average. That turned gullies into waterfalls, overwhelmed and blocked culverts, and triggered widespread debris flows across the road. Crews had worked throughout the weekend to clear the stretch between Mātāwai and Ōpōtiki. However, the New Zealand Transport Agency said the situation is far more complex than first anticipated. Waikato and Bay of Plenty manager for maintenance and operations, Roger Brady, said it was not something that could be fixed within days. "Our crews are doing everything they safely can, but the sheer number of slips and continuing amount of debris falling mean this is a complex and challenging situation," he said. "The safety of our crews will always come first." Brady said it was estimated there were up to 40 slips in total, including four to eight larger ones. "Given the scale of damage and uncertainty about the condition of the road underneath the debris, we expect the closure to extend well beyond a short-term response." Rob Service, who is in charge of the response and recovery, told RNZ it had to be a "very, very slow process". "They're working through, trying to clear that material as softly and as safely as they can, because there is a risk that more material could come down while they're trying to clear it," he said. There was a team, operating a digger and a truck on each side of State Highway 2, working to clear the road on Monday. Another team had been working to identify the owners of vehicles that were trapped, while a third had been clearing the culverts and drains ahead of more heavy rain forecast. "If that comes, that's going to hamper our recovery efforts a little bit. So, we're trying to get ahead of Mother Nature so that we can get on with the job and find out what we're actually dealing with. We still don't know yet. It's very, very slow and it needs to be slow to be safe because we've got men under there, which at any time could be very, very dangerous for them." Service said it was also unknown how long it would take for the road to reopen, but it was expected to be several weeks. "We won't know until we've cleared that material if we've still got a road under it or if that road is capable of taking vehicle traffic." People are urged to delay travel where possible, or to allow time for the long detour via State Highway 35 or State Highway 5. The detour is five hours longer than driving from Mātāwai and Ōpōtiki on State Highway 2. The NZ Transport Agency will also continue to monitor and maintain the detour route to ensure it is safe and accessible.