Farmer’s plea to council to open lake before flooding fell on ‘deaf ears’

Friday, 2 May 2025

Kinloch farmer Tom Power is frustrated after Christchurch City Council declined his request to open Lake Forsyth last week, and now his farm is flooded.

A farmer whose waterlogged paddocks will be unusable for months says he urged the council to open Lake Forsyth to the sea to prevent flooding but his words fell on “deaf ears”.

Tom Power’s Kinloch farm partially lies at the head of Lake Forsyth on the Banks Peninsula. Some of it is prone to flooding, which can be mitigated if the lake is opened to the sea.

Power said he told the Christchurch City Council to do just that on Thursday last week ahead of heavy rain forecast, but his words fell on “deaf ears”. Now, his flooded paddocks will be unusable until at least October.

“It’s a battle we have every single year, we just can’t for the life of us understand why they have to leave the lake to fill up,” he said.

“Last year, they had the foresight to open the lake before one of the storms … but this time they decided they were going to wait, and here we are, underwater.”

The flats still would have flooded if the lake was opened in time, Power said, but not as extensively.

“They call these events 100-year floods but I think we’ve probably had 10 or 12 of them in the last five or six years, and I’m pretty sure I’m not that old.”

Photos of Tom Power's farm near Lake Forsyth on the Banks Peninsula. Left, a picture taken on Monday, and right the same view on Thursday after heavy rain flooded the property.

Council head of Three Waters Gavin Hutchinson said diggers were on site and would open Lake Forsyth as soon as there was an appropriate weather window.

“We have to time this to coincide with the southerly swells dropping to ensure the channel stays open and has the intended impact, and so we can ensure the safety of our staff and contractors.”

Flooding in Little River and the surrounding areas was unrelated to the lake, Hutchinson said.

Another farmer, Tim Sanson, said Environment Canterbury (ECan) should have been quicker to open Lake Ellesmere, which borders his property near Fisherman’s Point.

It was unacceptable, he said, and could have prevented water backing up and flooding homes.

ECan said the lake could only be opened in a joint decision with Ngāi Tahu. Consultation began on Monday and the decision to do so was reached on Tuesday afternoon.

“The sea is currently too large to attempt an opening,” general manager of hazards Leigh Griffiths said. “It would not be successful [because] the cut from the lake to the sea would fill in.”

Machinery had erected a bund to stop wave over wash pushing shingle into the lake, which should speed up a safe opening attempt, he said.

“The lake will be opened to the sea as soon as weather and sea conditions allow. This is likely several days away at the earliest.”