Dunedin declares Civil Defence State of Emergency
Thursday, 1 February 2018
Surface flooding is starting to subside, but a King tide is imminent.
A Civil Defence State of Emergency was declared this afternoon and is still in place.
Residents have been warned that they should treat all stormwater as contaminated, with rising floodwaters threatening the city.
Mayor Dave Cull said the 'catalyst' to the state of emergency being declared on Thursday afternoon was flood water entering the city's waste water system.
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Staff alongside other agencies had been actively monitoring the situation, with the amount of water falling too much for the system to handle.
Police are visiting properties affected by wastewater overflows around South Dunedin to let people know that an evacuation centre is available at the Caledonian Gym, Andersons Bay Road.
Residents should treat all stormwater as contaminated, and there was at least one confirmed discharge on Surrey St, in South Dunedin.
It was too early to say if the flooding risk was comparable to the floods of 2015.
The army had been advised of the situation, but had not evacuated anyone.
Two evacuation centres were established, in Dunedin and Mosgiel, as a precaution, but closed at 7pm due to a lack of demand.T
And Otago Peninsula and West Harbour residents have been advised to consider heading home and schools in low-lying areas are closing.
Stormwater was affecting city roads, with motorists advised to keep their speed down and avoid unnecessary travel.
Cull had a simple message for rubber-neckers - 'stay away'.
Reports are coming in of a resthome - evacuated during the 2015 south Dunedin floods - may be evacuated again.
The Radius Fulton rest home is oen of the city's lood-prone low lying suburbs and concerns are mounting over rising surface flooding around the property.
Meanwhile business owners along King Edward St - one of the retail areas hit hard by previous flooding - have sandbagged their properties.
Flooding threatening homes has also been reported in Mosgiel, with pumps at work in the area.
A Civil Defence briefing concerning Dunedin is to be held at 3.30pm.
The council has asked people to avoid travel in affected areas, particularly South Dunedin.
'Anyone who needs to drive through streets with surface flooding should slow down to reduce the amount of floodwater washed into property or businesses'
The remnants of Tropical Cyclone Fehi were lashing the country on Thursday, with some places in the west of the South Island recording rainfall rates of 18-20 millimetres an hour. A lot of rain has also been spilling over into Southland, Otago and South Canterbury.
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At 1.40pm the council issued an advisory on its Facebook page, telling residents to consider heading home early.
'More rain is forecast for this afternoon and we want to keep people off roads that may be affected by surface flooding at a peak time.
'Keeping vehicles off roads with a lot of surface water means water is less likely to wash into properties.'
The council said it would also be contacting businesses previous affected by flooding to see if they needed any support.
St Clair School closed at 1pm over fears of flooding and the king tide.
'The latest forecast predicts 60mm of rain between midday and 4pm. This is a significant amount of rain which has the potential to cause flooding issues, slips and disruption to traffic,' Dunedin Civil Defence Controller Sandy Graham said.
The areas most likely to be affected by flooding are low-lying areas such as South Dunedin and Mosgiel. Heavy rain may also cause localised issues for the hill suburbs.
Staff and contractors began working at 4am to make sure stormwater systems were clear and running well.
Queenstown Lakes District reported significant flooding on Mt Aspiring Rd outside Wanaka warning the road may be closed in thes afternoon. Several roads at the head of Lake Wakatipu were also closed.
Central Otago District Council is warning of fallen trees in the Maniototo, as well as surface flooding on roads across the district.
The city has been sweltering in recent weeks during the heatwave, recording temperatures in the late 20s, early 30s. But that was set to change from Thursday, with the mercury set to plummet overnight to a low of 11C and a high of 16C on Friday.