Poerua River is a river in Westland District in the

West Coast West Coast or west coast may refer to: Geography Australia * Western Australia *Regions of South Australia#Weather forecasting, West Coast of South Australia * West Coast, Tasmania **West Coast Range, mountain range in the region Canada * Britis ...

region of New Zealand's

South Island The South Island, also officially named , is the larger of the two major islands of New Zealand in surface area, the other being the smaller but more populous North Island. It is bordered to the north by Cook Strait, to the west by the Tasman ...

. It flows from its headwaters in the Southern Alps to the

Tasman Sea The Tasman Sea (Māori: ''Te Tai-o-Rēhua'', ) is a marginal sea of the South Pacific Ocean, situated between Australia and New Zealand. It measures about across and about from north to south. The sea was named after the Dutch explorer Abe ...

near Harihari. The river is a

trout Trout are species of freshwater fish belonging to the genera '' Oncorhynchus'', ''Salmo'' and ''Salvelinus'', all of the subfamily Salmoninae of the family Salmonidae. The word ''trout'' is also used as part of the name of some non-salmoni ...

and

salmon Salmon () is the common name for several list of commercially important fish species, commercially important species of euryhaline ray-finned fish from the family (biology), family Salmonidae, which are native to tributary, tributaries of the ...

fishing location and its mouth is where it is met by the Hinatua River and is located roughly a kilometre south of the

Wanganui River The Wanganui River is in the West Coast of the South Island of New Zealand. It flows northwest for from its headwaters in the Southern Alps, entering the Tasman Sea near Lake Ianthe, southwest of Hokitika Hokitika is a town in the Wes ...

's mouth. On the morning of 6 October 1999, a

landslide Landslides, also known as landslips, are several forms of mass wasting that may include a wide range of ground movements, such as rockfalls, deep-seated grade (slope), slope failures, mudflows, and debris flows. Landslides occur in a variety of ...

from Mount Adams blocked the Poerua River, creating a landslide dam about 11 km upstream from the bridge over the river. Despite fears of flooding and other damage, there were relatively minimal impacts when the dam was breached six days later, though significant quantities of coarse

gravel Gravel is a loose aggregation of rock fragments. Gravel occurs naturally throughout the world as a result of sedimentary and erosive geologic processes; it is also produced in large quantities commercially as crushed stone. Gravel is classifi ...

were deposited downstream and the river's course was changed in places.

External links

GeoNet - page contains an image of the landslide dam across the southern Poerua RiverNatural Hazards Centre - Mt Adams landslide: lessons on preparing for large earthquakesReport on the 6 October 1999 landslide and its effects
Westland District Rivers of the West Coast, New Zealand Rivers of New Zealand {{WestCoastNZ-river-stub