'Get it done': Frustration mounts as council mulls design of $10m flood wall for Westport

Friday, 11 February 2022

A makeshift stop bank was put in place to prevent flooding along Snodgrass Rd which runs along the Orowaiti river.

Six months on from a devastating flood, with two evacuations in one week, Westport residents are despairing at the lack of protection.

After more than 500 homes in Westport flooded in July, residents overwhelmingly supported the West Coast Regional Council to build a $10.2 million wall around the town.

However, six months on no physical work has begun on the wall and with an aging stormwater system exacerbating flooding, the residents are growing frustrated. A Westport Joint Committee set up to review the plan has not had a single meeting.

A red weather warning last week and an orange alert on Thursday forced low-lying areas to be evacuated, but fortunately no widespread flooding occurred.

As residents packed up, sandbagged their homes and moved out they expressed frustration that more work had not been done to protect the town from flooding.

Alison Fox moves belongings from her previously flooded home in Westport.

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The Buller River bridge at Westport just after high tide on Thursday evening. (First published February 10, 2022)

Menzies St resident Alison Fox said there was “lots of stuff” they could be doing.

“The [flood protection] wall will protect us from the river hopefully but of course if [the stormwater system] builds up they need to have a pump like Greymouth does.”

Many complained about an aging stormwater system, which was clogged up after previous heavy rain events that caused flooding.

The pipes were unable to cope with the amount of rain, and with a full Buller River the water was bubbling up from drains in many streets on Thursday causing surface flooding that threatened homes.

Roebuck St resident Cecil Pablecheque said he felt grateful for a temporary bund that was built under emergency works last week by the Buller District Council that protected his home from flooding.

“I'm a bit frustrated with the [Regional] council because they have had all the opportunity in the world to fix this and they've never done it.

“They built a bank down the end of Roebuck St and that shielded us last time and it was only built a fortnight ago. They only put it along there but the water all came down through the domain and it all came around the back of us,' he said.

Regional council chairman Allan Birchfield agreed with the residents.

Mikaere Clarkson in a flooded Colvin St, Westport, says the stormwater system is not working properly.

“Something needs to be done before the spring rain. If we have to do it under emergency works we will. I would be prepared to authorise that.

“We can’t keep evacuating the town every time there is a rain warning. It can’t go on.”

Water bubbling up a drain on Peel St on Thursday.

However, the 14 kilometre wall had taken time to be designed. He hoped it would go out to tender and construction could begin this year.

“We have to design the wall properly. We are going to borrow $10 million and spend it on behalf of our ratepayers.”

It was taking longer than he was happy with, but he was confident the wall would work in the medium-term.

“We have had some criticism but I think a well-designed wall is our best chance.

“People say the river gravel needs clearing but that won’t help. There is so much gravel building up we can’t extract enough. Long term there will have to be retreat from some areas, but the wall will give us time to relocate where we need to.”

Buller mayor Jamie Cliene said he had expected the regional council’s wall to take some time to come to fruition and acknowledged the stormwater system was causing frustration.

“It’s an old stormwater system that needs upgrading. We have pipes in just about every street in Westport that are old, cracked, damaged, groundwater is seeping in.

“When you get an event like this it’s never going to keep up. There’s no quick fix. There was damage caused by the July flood still being worked through.”

West Coast Civil Defence Emergency Management Group chairman Bruce Smith said the protection project was “bound up in internal politics of the councils”.

“Fix and build the walls now and save heaps of money in the future,” he said.

Funding for protection around the Hokitika River had been approved by the Government for 18 months, he said.

”Internal politics within the West Coast Regional Council has seen the danger recognised but nothing has happened on the ground once again.”

He urged the council to “get it done”.

Council chief executive Heather Mabin said there had been no stalling and no internal politicking.

She said the council had originally planned for a cheaper wall, which covered just the Westport township, but the overwhelming majority of ratepayers had submitted in favour of a more comprehensive $10.2m option which covered the Orowaiti River and Carter’s Beach areas.

More work needed to be done as a result, including modelling and design work that all had to be peer reviewed, she said.

The consenting process would also take time and would need to be done by an independent panel.

However, the council was still on track to begin work on the wall within a year, Mabin said.

The councils are calling for nominations for an independent chair for the Westport Joint Committee, which would have its first meeting in March.

The committee would review the annual work plan for Westport flood protection, consider any independent expert advice and make informed recommendations to the Regional Council for a final decision.