Wellington's weekend flash flood 'pretty nasty', but no long-term fix in sight
Dr Sarb Johal was driving his daughters home in Wellington when floodwaters surged almost to door-handle height . It was Saturday morning, he says, and they were returning from a music lesson. Deceptively, the rain had eased off at the start of that lesson. Then, just as they left Miramar, it picked up again. By the time they reached Lyall Bays Onepu Rd, the window wipers worked overtime against sheets of rain. Even the side streets, Johal remembers, were like small streams in flood. At the Lyall Bay Parade-Onepu Rd intersection, the water was at its deepest; impassable. Realising it wouldnt be safe to continue, he kicked the car into reverse, and eventually managed to get to higher ground. READ MORE: * Auckland has had 91% of its annual rainfall - and it's not even June * School Strike 4 Climate: Students call-out corporate greenwashing, Government inaction * Managed retreat: Day of reckoning for flood-hit homeowners nears It was pretty nasty the girls were pretty scared in the back, he said. When the water comes down hard, it tends to collect in that area [the Lyall Bay intersection]. Even so, Ive never seen it gather this quickly before. MetService meteorologist Jessie Owen called Saturdays unusually intense rainfall a localised phenomenon. Twenty-five millimetres of rain were recorded at the airport between 10am and 11am the hour during which Johal drove home. For context, 6mm of rain in an hour was considered heavy, Owen explained. This wasnt a widespread event, where the whole city received rain all at once rather there were pockets of heavy rain within bands of showers that drifted over the city. Johal called the flash flood a scary glimpse at an uncertain future for the capitals lower-lying areas. Its the reality were having to deal with: warm air carrying a lot more moisture, and falling in a much shorter period of time. To one resident, who lives near the Lyall Bay Parade-Onepu Rd intersection, the flood is a frustrating peek at present-day inaction. One particular drain, on the corner, tended to get filled up with sand, the man said. That blockage then caused the intersection to frequently flood about waist-deep. This would happen about five times a year, he estimated. There appears to be a very easy solution when you know its going to rain: unclog the drain. Instead, the floodwaters would encroach into his property maybe once a year and this had caused his insurance excess to climb. On Saturday, the man assisted in a tow when a car became stuck in the waters. Unable initially to get a response from Wellington Water, he and others then attempted to cone off the road copping abuse from angry drivers for their trouble. That abuse made him reluctant to be named in this story, but he shared emails between himself and Wellington Water concerning the matter. The email thread goes back four years, and shows him struggling to get the issue acknowledged, then investigated. In its most recent response from earlier this month, Wellington Water writes that funding for storm water upgrades or improvements is allocated through Wellington City Councils Long-Term Plan. At this stage, unfortunately, there are no planned projects in this area. That meant a longer-term fix was currently off the table, although the companys engineering team would continue to clear blockages as and when required. When contacted on Sunday, a spokesperson for Wellington Water didnt wish to comment further. These are decisions for the council through its Long-Term Plan, the spokesperson said. Indeed, the council is due to consider additional funding for Wellington Water at its Long-Term Plan committee meeting on Wednesday. The funding a possible total of $4.6 million would go towards operational expenditure. Mayor Tory Whanau, who proposed half of that additional funding herself, said ratepayers have been calling for more pipes to be fixed faster, and this move will help with that. But it was unclear whether those funds would help to fix Lyall Bays flooding issue. Whanau acknowledged those ongoing issues, which were exacerbated by the fact its a sandy, low-lying coastal area. She planned to ask council officers to liaise with Wellington Water about what could be done to fix the problem. If the year so far is any indication, there could be more floods to come. Wellington has seen more rainfall than normal for this time of year roughly 60% of its average annual rainfall so far. In Kelburn, for instance, 732mm of rain has fallen, whereas on average 490mm would have fallen by now. That is still well below Auckland, which had recorded 90% of its normal annual rainfall in just the first third of this year . The Post