On the afternoon of 8th January 2008, I was getting my cows in for milking when about 40 metres of the stopbank gave way and water started flowing into our farm. The actual site was appprox 450 metres up stream from where you are standing on the true right bank of the Linton Main Drain.
There had been over 250mm of rain in the northern Tararua Ranges over the past 24 hours. This caused large volumes of water to flow down the Tokomaru River and back up the Linton Main Drain. The Linton Main Drain was dug in the early 1900's to drain the flax covered swamp in the area so it could be used for farming. The material dug from the drain formed the new banks and was of poor quality.
Once we had finished milking the cows, we let them go to a dry paddock where the floodwater hadn't reached yet. By 5pm we knew our whole farm was going to be inundated with water and we then had to walk our cows to two neighbouring farms for the night. The next day all of our 320 cows were trucked to various farms in Moutoa, Opiki & Linton so they could feed and milk them until our farm had recovered months later.
Horizons Regional Council flew 1T sandbags into the breach with a helicopter the next morning. Then over the coming weeks they repaired the bank (which is owned by them).
Our family was very grateful for all the help from fellow farmers and others that helped get us back up and running again. The water was largely gone after 4.5 days with the assistance of 5 tractor pumps and the Ashlea Pumpstation (which is not far downstream from here). There was a lot of debris left behind and the farm tracks had been stripped of their rotten rock surface. Fences were also destroyed.
Please do not open the gate as there is stock grazing the stopbank. Just climb over the white railing. The banks have now been upgraded and raised with imported clay.