Canvastown community pulls together in floodwaters' wake

Tuesday, 20 July 2021

Karen Kellaway has a long, soggy recovery job ahead after floodwaters came through her property in Canvastown on Saturday.

A telltale line traces its way around the walls of Karen Kellaway's house.

Down the road in the Canvastown Community Hall, a fine layer of silt coats the wooden floorboards, while outside a ute and trailer are laden with Kellaway’s sodden belongings, headed for the dump.

Meanwhile, back at the house, “Marf’s Mob” – aka the local volunteer fire brigade – are hosing out the downstairs level of Kellaway’s house.

Canvastown Volunteer Fire Brigade rural controller Denis Marfell sweeps water through Karen Kellaway's ground floor after floodwaters came through her property on Saturday.

“Got to get rid of the mud,” rural controller Denis Marfell stated simply as he swept water out of the garage.

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Canvastown Volunteer firefighter Michael Wallace was helping hose out Karen Kellaway’s hose on Monday, in a bid to get rid of the mud caused by flooding on Saturday.

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Karen Kellaway surveys the downstairs level of her Canvastown home after floodwaters came through the property on Saturday. A line around the walls shows how deep the water got.

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Many of Karen Kellaway books and belongings were damaged in the flooding, with a lot having to be thrown away,

He and fellow firefighter Michael Wallace are the latest in a long string of people to stop by Kellaway’s house since Saturday, when a storm caused massive flooding across the top of the south island and the West Coast.

But floods aren’t new to the locals of Canvastown, a small rural town on the banks of the Wakamarina River between Blenheim and Nelson, and when they do occur they rally around those affected.

After 19 years living in the area, 16 as principal of the local school, Kellaway is used to flooding – but this is the first time water has flowed through her home.

”We do flood regularly – the Waka just comes up and goes over the banks”, she said.

Mud still lingers in one of Karen Kellaway's sheds after the flooding.

She first realised her house had been flooded when she woke about 5am on Saturday, looked out the window and saw flood water.

She thought she better go downstairs to check – and stepped into water. Then she went back to bed until it was light and she could properly assess the damage.

On Monday a grimy line sneaks around the walls about 30cm above the floor, showing how high the water got.

There’s water pooled in the bottom of a bath and in the shower after water bubbled up through the pipes. That means there’s a good chance the water was contaminated with septic waster, so furniture and belongings are being stripped out, with most sent to the dump.

She kept opening up cupboard and realising how sodden everything was, she said.

Gary Brown, Canvastown Community Association treasurer, in the flooded Community Hall. They managed to get the water and mud out on Saturday night but a fine silt layer lingers.

“You think you’re going to save things, but no, you’re not.”

The books were one of the biggest blows.

Debris clings to fencing on Healys Rd in Canvastown, after floodwaters swept through from the Wakamarina River on Saturday.

“The water just absorbs things so quickly.”

But after the initial shock, she was getting on with clean-up, and thankful that the downstairs was a guest space and her main living areas were still liveable.

And the help from the community had been “wonderful”, she said.

Ella Jenner, 13, was kept busy serving stranded drivers at Brick Oven Cafe in Rai Valley on Saturday.

“I was shell-shocked day one. Yesterday morning I think I was upset, and now, people have been so good, so get on with it,” Kellaway said stoicly as she surveyed the damage.

“This isn’t as bad as an earthquake I reckon, or a fire.”

Down the road at the local hall, Nan Buchanan-Brown and Gary Brown were delivering a load of Kellaway’s belongings to the dump, before turning to another big job – cleaning up the hall.

Water had swept through on Saturday, and they were able to get down that evening and sweep it out before the mud settled, but a fine layer of silt over the floor would still need several goings over with the mop.

They’d already pulled all the plates and cutlery out of the cupboards for a wash, Brown said. But a sodden chip board cabinet that had floated down the room may be a goner.

The water had been a “raging torrent” in the fields behind the hall, he said.

“Everyone’s pretty resigned to this sort of thing every now and again, but it doesn’t make it any easier.”

Marfell said the community had come through the flood pretty well, with few houses flooded.

“It’s a lot better than it was in 2010, because it wasn’t quite as high this time.”

Up the road at Rai Valley’s Brick Oven Cafe, Ella Jenner, 13, is working the counter.

They were flat out on Saturday, as stranded drivers waited for the roads to reopen, she said.

“We had drivers stuck here for 30 hours.”

The cafe did a roaring trade on coffee and hot food, she said.

And once the road finally reopened there was an endless stream of cars and trucks going past.