Hutt River
The Hutt River in flood - Lower Hutt
The Hutt River is a steep alluvial river that starts in the Tararua Ranges and enters Wellington Harbour at Petone. The river drains mountainous terrain in the southern Tararua and Rimutaka Ranges and streams and rivers from the Eastern and Western Hutt hills.
The catchment covers 655 km (that's more than seven times the area of Wellington Harbour!) and contains the Hutt River East and West, the Akatarawa, Pakuratahi and Mangaroa Rivers. All of these rivers feed into the Hutt River, so a storm in any part of the catchment could result in flooding. It takes only seven hours for heavy rain at the top of the catchment to turn into floodwaters at the Hutt River mouth.