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Sunday, June 16, 2013

Kaiteretere drowned

"It's the worst weather we've ever seen here. Very worst"

Goodness! Who'd ever have thought? Extreme weather events, here in New Zealand and all the while, Lord Moncky-Monckton declares shrilly,"There is no global warming!"



Kaiteretere is the golden-sand beach where I spent my childhood summer holidays. The rain didn't pound relentlessly down while I was there. Houses didn't slip off the hills and get buried under tonnes of mud.

I wonder what's going on?

14 comments:

Ray said...

Possibly you were there during the summer!
Not that floods in summer are are unknown over the last 150 years

Dave Kennedy said...

Ray:

http://localbodies-bsprout.blogspot.co.nz/2013/06/climate-loses-to-partisan-politics.html

http://localbodies-bsprout.blogspot.co.nz/2013/05/our-earth-and-climate-crisis.html

robertguyton said...

Ray, the good woman on TV3 looked shocked and distraught at what was happening around her and I got the impression she was telling it straight. It was the very worst they'd ever had. Having lived my early years in Nelson and these days keeping an eye on the flood events there, I'm pleased I chose Southland to settle in. Serious and destructive floods from extra-heavy rainfall are becoming commonplace n my ol' home town. I know why too.

Unknown said...

Crikey Robert We probably went to the same school before reassembling in Riverton. My recolection of my youth there was fantastic weather interspersed with some pretty wild storms and cyclones,slips and flooding were common particularly in the susceptible Moutere soils, Port Hills,Whangamoas, Rai Valley etc.My relatives go back to the 1800s in all these areas and passed on the stories of the floods.Basic catchment design calcs would show that runoff is much faster now with the intensification in property development in Nelson over the last few decades and people have built on every hill with a view they could find.Living at the end of the Southern Alps is a pretty good indication to expect the high rainfall events that we are seeing.It is the other factors that are amplifying the effects of the storm events- property development,snow melt,population growth and peoples expectations.

robertguyton said...

Graham - I too remember those flod events, know the Moutere soils and recall slips on the Port Hills (I had cousins in Toswill Road). However, this woman was sure these deluges were the worst. certainly, the disastrous slip looked as though it owed a lot to poor choice of building site and denuded hills.
I was Richmond School primer, a Waimea Intermediate in-betweener and Waimea College secondary schooler.
You're in Riverton?

Unknown said...

Tahunanui Primary and Nelson Intermediate. Walked up Tosswill Road on the way home from school.That house was built in the 40s and was as high up the hill as they went, now its only half way up- horrified to see what has been developed to get a view.I spent most of the last 25 years kicking around riverton but now live in TeAnau.Still a regular in riverton as we have property there.Current work has me working in Fiordland so extreme weather is not unusual- most people dont comprehend when I tell them it blows harder and rains heavier in Nelson than Fiordland or Riverton- It does just not as often!

travelling_without_moving said...

The Big Swindle – Climate Change Denial movie deconstructed… https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=boj9ccV9htk

robertguyton said...

Travelling_without_moving

Thanks

robertguyton said...

Graham - If you are over 60, then perhaps we went to school together! My mother was a teacher at Tahunanui school while I was only weeks away from being born. Perhaps you were one of her students:-)
She boarded with the Guy family on top of the hill and she too walked up Toswill Road, past the Beaumont family home where first she had spied that handsome fellow, Lance Guyton, digging his sister's garden.

Unknown said...

Not over 60 I'm afraid- just feel like it. I did have friends of David and Joyce McKenzie who I believe teached at Waimea College.
Tahuna was pretty special to grow up in yet I have no desire to move back.That may change come thursday and fridays sub zero blast.

Paranormal said...

Well if the shocked tv3 report thingy said it, it must be true.

robertguyton said...

We're agreed then - batten down the hatches.

Paranormal said...

Nah. I prefer to get my skis ready to enjoy the winter snow that's on it's way.

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