By Dave Gooselink
Strong river flows have washed away part of the Waitaki Bridge at Kurow and engineers say repairs can not be carried out until the flood level drops.
Swollen by heavy weekend rain, the Waitaki River is still running high and full of debris.
That caused structural piles on the aging Waitaki Bridge to collapse, forcing it to be closed to traffic.
“You forget how important it is to have a bridge just for milk and bread and papers, your mail, just little simple things,” says Cassie Irving, a Haka Valley resident.
The main detour from Hakataramea takes an hour and a half, driving to Glenavy and back up the Waitaki Valley. The second route through the Mackenzie Country takes even longer.
The bridge is still open to pedestrians during daylight hours, at their own risk, but will be blocked off at night.
The biggest concern is for any emergency response in Kurow.
“Our local fire brigade is manned by volunteers. Half maybe even up to three quarters of those volunteers come from the Hakataramea Valley,” says Kurow police constable Craig Bennett.
Kurow business owners are annoyed but say there is nothing they can do.
“End of the day you know it's just one of those things. Transit probably should have got their A into G a lot earlier. It's been like that for several years,” says Steve Hotton from Valley Café Kurow.
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