All input is welcome. The above ↑ was taken at a Motorcycle Rally pre 1988 and the below ↓ is the Staff of the ANZ Bank taken in either 1978 or 1979. The central span of the bridge across the Wairoa River was washed away. All text licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 New Zealand Licence unless otherwise stated. ... States of emergency were declared in Wairoa, Gisborne and the East Cape. Finish. Finish. OLD WAIROA TOWN & COUNTRY has 11,200 members. This is the offical RSS Feed of the National Civil Defence website. Both the main State Highway and the rail lines north and south were closed in several places due to slips and water flooding. It was 30 years ago when Cyclone Bola 'smashed its way ' into northern Hawke's Bay. One of the worst cyclones to reach New Zealand was Bola, which hit the north and east of the North Island on 7 March 1988. The cyclone slowed as it moved over the area, resulting in over three days of torrential rain. Thick sediment from the ebbing floods smothered pastures, orchards, and crops ready for harvest. A total of 1,765 farmers were affected by the flooding, The cyclone… Storm damage was heaviest in Gisborne, Tologa Bay and Wairoa, where rain destroyed or damaged several roads and bridges. Phil well remembers its impact.“We did all sorts of work but the job I probably recall best is working in the rain sandbagging the town to protect from the flood waters caused by Bola” he says. Understand []. Share this item Post to … The Wairoa Jaycees Club raised £500 or NZD$21,000 toward funding the reconstruction. [5] The system was subsequently named Bola by the Fiji Meteorological Service during the next day, after it had become a Category 1 tropical cyclone on the Australian tropical cyclone intensity scale. It was a serious blow: the bridge linked the two sides of … carried the water supply and sewerage pipes. Cyclone Bola was one of the costliest cyclones in the history of New Zealand, causing severe damage as an extratropical cyclone when it passed near the country in March 1988. 2. Wairoa is a town of 4,000 people in northern Hawke's Bay, New Zealand.. One 11,000-hectare catchment deposited a million tonnes of sediment into the Waipaoa River. the river banks and inundate the Hawke’s Bay town of 2400 m3/s slightly less than 1 in 20 year return period flow Waiau River at Otoi: peak recorded level = 3.879m (cyclone “Bola” level in Mar.1988 = 4.914m) It formed on February 24 to the north of Fiji, and tracking generally southwestward it reached hurricane-force winds near Vanuatu on February 28. Wairoa is a town in New Zealand's North Island. WAIROA BRIDGE. Wairoa on 7 March 1988. Heavy rain in the area resulted in landslides, cuts to power and sewage services, and closed a number of roads.Three people died when the car they were in was swept away by floodwaters. Heavier rain had started falling on Sunday night and had continued throughout Monday. Flooding killed three people when their car was swept away. In 1990 Wairoa won the last New Zealand Top Town Final in the original Top Town series and were the reigning champs until the series started again in 2009. In 1988 this doubled as a result of Cyclone Bola. The Gisborne Herald reported that it took just three seconds for Bola to destroy the bridge over the Wairoa River. Both the main State Highway and the rail lines north and south were closed in several places due to slips and water flooding. Wairoa insurance losses (excluding EQC) were $3.79m (1991) Floods – Tairawhiti. Wairoa has an attractive shopping centre alongside the river. The damaged crops included 3,000 tonnes of grapes, 1,300 tonnes of squash, 7,000 tonnes of sweet corn, Te Ara, The Encyclopedia of New Zealand. Cyclone Bola was one of the costliest cyclones in the history of New Zealand, causing severe damage as an extratropical cyclone when it passed near the country in March 1988. One of the most damaging cyclones to hit New Zealand was Cyclone Bola, which struck the Hawke’s Bay and Gisborne–East Cape region in March 1988. Floods accompanying Cyclone Bola threatened to overtop Understand []. Frasertown is a small rural settlement west of Wairoa, with a long history. The central span of the bridge A joint effort to realign Nuhaka River has reopened land access and is helping prevent further environmental damage. Wairoa Bridge, a 12 span, 200 m long structure, situated in Wairoa township in New Zealand, was badly damaged as a result of Cyclone Bola in March 1988. This television footage shows flooding that seriously affected the transport routes serving Wairoa. At 3.20am on Tuesday the 8th of March a Civil Emergency was declared in Wairoa and the fire siren sounded across the township. We have posted contact links at the bottom of page 7 for anyone who can help build on what we have so far. Cyclone Bola. The central span of the bridge across the Wairoa River was washed away. The Wairoa River could not cope with the deluge of water flowing down from the catchment area and the water flowed over her banks across fields, roads, rail lines and through buildings and homes. It was a serious As the waters flow down from the higher catchment area, as shown in the map below, the speed of the current picks up momentum sweeping everything within its path along the swollen rivers into the basin funnel - The Wairoa River. In the Wairoa Township the water level rose up as high as the curbing along the side of Marine Parade. Eileen McSaveney, 'Floods - Southland floods and Cyclone Bola', Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/en/photograph/4891/bridge-washout-after-cyclone-bola (accessed 25 December 2020), Story by Eileen McSaveney, published 12 Jun 2006, reviewed & revised 1 Aug 2017. The maximum rainfall total over those days attributed to the storm was 917 mm, reported at a station near Tologa Bay. [2] Flooding killed three people when a car was swept away. These two photos have been all I can find so far of the old bridge. Wairoa is a town and territorial authority district in New Zealand's North Island. It remains the deadliest tropical cyclone ever recorded and one of the world's deadliest natural disasters. Cyclone Bola was one of the costliest cyclones in the history of New Zealand, causing severe damage as an extratropical cyclone when it passed near the country in March 1988. When Cyclone Bola struck on Monday 7 March, 1988, the East Coast of the North Island suffered devastating floods. Our thanks to Rupert Wood for such a comprehensive report. It weakened further and was absorbed by a stationary trough near the South Island on March 12. Te … Three people were killed near Gisborne and hundreds were evacuated due to the flooding from the heavy rain. The cyclone first affected Fiji, where it produced gale force winds and strong waves. © Crown Copyright. 07 Mar 1988. All photos are the property of Wairoa.net and are not for distribution. Cyclone Bola brought devastation when it hit during March 1988. This television footage shows flooding that seriously affected the transport routes serving Wairoa. The bridge crossing the river is the third to be here – the last one was swept away by Cyclone Bola in 1988. Cyclone bola courtesy wairoa college Meteorological history The system that was to become Severe Tropical Cyclone Bola was first noted during February 24, as a depression that had developed within the South Pacific Convergence Zone about 850 km (530 mi) to the north-east of Nadi, Fiji. The bridge crossing the river is the third to be here – the last one was swept away by Cyclone Bola in 1988. Water Restriction Alerts No Restrictions. The next day it generated peak wind velocities of 195 km/h (120 mph), though it quickly weakened as it accelerated southward. The combination of flood created scour, debris, and hydraulic forces caused the loss of six of the spans. [1]. Damage was estimated to have totaled over $82 million. Washout jeopardises Wairoa-Napier railway reopening 22 Sep, 2018 11:28 PM 2 minutes to read A 45m washout under the railway line north of Raupunga, on the way north towards Wairoa. 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