Hokitika family's home flooded for a third time in four years

Wednesday, 27 March 2019

A West Coast family are frustrated their home has flooded for the third time in four years as they continue waiting for promised infrastructure upgrades.

A state of emergency was declared for the Westland district on Tuesday evening after a day of torrential rain that destroyed the bridge across the Waiho River near Franz Josef, closed roads and schools, and brought down several slips.

Julie Wallis said she and husband Bruce began lifting all their belongings off the floor when the floodwaters reached their Hoffman St property about 9pm.

They stayed awake watching the water rise and enter their home about 3am. They then left to go to a friend's house.

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'We have our 7-year-old great-niece staying with us who hasn't been to bed. It's all a big adventure to her.

'She wanted to know if we were going to get saltwater crocodiles,' she said.

The water reached above the skirting boards and destroyed the carpet. She said it was the third time their property had been inundated in four years.

The Westland District Council had been promising to upgrade the stormwater system, which had not been improved since they moved into the house about 25 years ago.

The council has installed larger pipes in some parts of the town, but not Hoffman St, which was low-lying and prone to flood.

The couple were forced to live with Julie's parents for nine months while more than $65,000 worth of repairs were carried out after the last time the house flooded in 2015.

The carpets also had to be replaced last year after a flash flood.

'I get anxious every time there's heavy rain and I'm not an anxious person,' she said.

Hoffman St resident Tania Price said the street had flooded three times since 2016, but this week's flood was the worst.

Nearby Rolleston St had also been flooded twice, but escaped flooding this time because its stormwater system was upgraded by the council in 2017.

Price said the council had been promising Hoffman St residents an upgrade but nothing had been done.

'All they did was clean our drains and I thought 'that's no good what if it happens again?',' she said.

'[Tuesday] night when I was looking at the drain it kept bubbling up. There was a lot of water.'

The water reached her lawn by 10.30pm on Tuesday.

'I got all my animals and took them to my mum's. I was too scared. It was inches from my door,' she said.

The water did not get into her house, but her neighbours were not so lucky.

She said no-one from the council nor Civil Defence had visited the residents to warn them about the flood risk on Tuesday.