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The Waikari River is a river in the Hawke's Bay region of
Flooding of the river on 14 February 2023 during
New Zealand
New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...
's North Island
The North Island, also officially named Te Ika-a-Māui, is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, separated from the larger but much less populous South Island by the Cook Strait. The island's area is , making it the world's 14th-largest ...
. It flows generally east from its source at the northern end of the Maungaharuru Range passing the settlement of Putorino
Putorino (Māori: ) is a small farming settlement in northern Hawke's Bay, on the eastern side of New Zealand's North Island. It is located on State Highway 2 between Tutira and Mohaka, on the Hastings side of the border between Hastings and ...
to reach Hawke Bay
Hawke Bay ( mi, Te Matau-a-Māui), formerly named ''Hawke's Bay'', is a large bay on the east coast of the North Island of New Zealand, surrounded by the Hawke's Bay region. It stretches from Māhia Peninsula in the northeast to Cape Kidnapp ...
25 kilometres southwest of Wairoa. The name Waikari comes from the Māori
Māori or Maori can refer to:
Relating to the Māori people
* Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group
* Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand
* Māori culture
* Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the C ...
words ''wai'' meaning "water" and ''kari'' meaning "dig". The river was called Waikare until given an official name in 1941.
History
In the 1931 earthquake atsunami
A tsunami ( ; from ja, 津波, lit=harbour wave, ) is a series of waves in a water body caused by the displacement of a large volume of water, generally in an ocean or a large lake. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and other underwater explo ...
hit the river mouth, leaving fish up to 15 metres above the high tide level.
Flooding of the river on 14 February 2023 during Cyclone Gabrielle
Severe Tropical Cyclone Gabrielle was a severe tropical cyclone that devastated the North Island of New Zealand and affected parts of Vanuatu and Australia in February 2023. It is the costliest tropical cyclone on record in the Southern Hemisphe ...
destroyed the State Highway 2 bridge over the river at Putorino
Putorino (Māori: ) is a small farming settlement in northern Hawke's Bay, on the eastern side of New Zealand's North Island. It is located on State Highway 2 between Tutira and Mohaka, on the Hastings side of the border between Hastings and ...
and facilities at a Department of Conservation campsite beside the river about 200 metres from the river mouth. A temporary Bailey bridge
A Bailey bridge is a type of portable, pre-fabricated, truss bridge. It was developed in 1940–1941 by the British for military use during the Second World War and saw extensive use by British, Canadian and American military engineering units. A ...
was erected to replace the highway bridge, opening on 14 May. A huge amount of logs and forest debris swept down by the cyclone still covered the river mouth and adjacent coastline in October 2023.
See also
* List of rivers of New ZealandReferences
* New Zealand 1:50000 Topographic Map Series sheet BH39 – Putorino Rivers of Hawke's Bay Rivers of New Zealand {{HawkesBay-river-stub