Midnight Collective: Storm surge drama at Kapiti NZ

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Actively supporting NZ’s endangered wetland birds

Over the last three days the remnants of cyclone -Fehi- have travelled down the western coast of these islands then crossed from the Tasman to the Pacific coast. So it has been a turbulent few days with the muggy, low pressure system traversing the South Island, egged on by a rare blue blood moon.

The cause of it all? Blue Blood moon setting - foto Frances Jill Studd

There has been flooding, tourist strandings, slippages and tree plantation flattenings. Scientists have linked the increasingly wild weather to climate change with flooding on the west coast and major coastal tidal surges.

We are prone to surges here at Raumati Beach with the sanddunes under threat though more spectacularly, they can funnel tidal waves up into the Wharemauku Stream. The area to about a kilometre upstream, has been rerouted to help control flooding. This steers encroaching waves underground and though there wasn’t major flooding this time, there has been in the past, with the shopping centre going under water. Our rainfall, which had been threatening all day shows why this is of concern. Though the centre of the storm skirted past us dropping a respectable 32 mm on our parched landscape, 20 of that fell in about 30 minutes around six, on the night before these photos were taken.

That wasn't enough to flood low level housing, but it was scary all the same with the Wharemauku climbing to about 2/3rds full in in 20 minutes. But it was the sea breaching inland that caught our attention and here is a photo essay, taken at the next high tide, around 11.30 the following morning with the wind still raucous but the worst now over.

Sea bulking up at the Wharemauku mouth - this is usually pancake flat and safe for children.

Here it comes - wave funneling through drains kilometre upstream

And comes

and comes...

This is earthquake country and gives an idea of how a tsunami would behave, careening up this inlet. Though a minor disturbance in comparison, it clearly showed how it isn't the initial wave that is the problem, but the weight of water carried behind it. Further upstream it was still swirling, pushing the still flooding stream back - the tide reaching further inland than we have previously observed.

Wave continuing its push upstream

around 1.5 kilometres upstream and still going strong

Curiously we spotted as much birdlife here, as we have for some time so it must have been stirring up the marine life - and this we observed when for the first time we spotted a small eel slooping around the excavated channels in the former dunelake area 3 kms away.