Some Canterbury residents still trapped by floodwaters, slips

Floodwaters stubbornly remain in some parts of Christchurch and Banks Peninsula, turning backyards into lakes and sending rubbish bins drifting past front fences.

Torrents of water have also sent slips crashing onto roads, trapping some in their homes for a second day.

Jason Talford’s street in the suburb of Shirley took a hammering. Just down from his Bellbrook Crescent house, floodwaters dumped a chunk of someone’s front fence, including a mailbox, onto the footpath.

The water was yet to subside, keeping his family at home.

“About a week ago we had 47mm of rain and just the intersection flooded, but this time it’s all the way up to my property.

“I just made it in yesterday when I picked my girls up, but I can’t get out. And I can’t leave and I can’t clean up until the water goes.”

Across town, Hoon Hay resident Maria fished rubbish out from the water and returned floating bins to neighbours while she waited for levels to drop on her street.

She said people rubbernecking had also been an issue.

“There’s a lot, a lot of people coming to have a look. It’s disappointing when you get people driving really fast, [through the waters], videoing as they go.

“Most people that are respectful tend to park up where it’s dry and then walk down – which is fine – but it’s the other ones which are driving down and flooding further up into people’s gardens – it’s not cool.”

Slips on this Goughs Bay road in Banks Peninsula added to damage already caused by a storm on 21 December last year.
Photo: Supplied

On Banks Peninsula, six key access routes were still closed by slips, including Okains Bay Road.

Amour-Jane Ryan lives in the bay and last saw her 13-year-old daughter yesterday morning, when she left on a school bus.

“[My daughter and another affected child] ended up going to one house, which is up on the Summit Road by Pigeon Bay. But currently their house is in the middle of three slips.

“Once our road is open, we can get to the top … but we actually can’t get to pick the kids up.”

Yesterday, the school bus driver had to reverse 5km back up the bay’s winding road when he discovered the slip, Ryan said.

Communication on how work was going from Christchurch City Council was patchy, she said.

Goughs Bay, Banks Peninsula
Photo: Supplied

Talford said the council had also not once made contact with residents or tried to pump the water away in Shirley.

“Sometimes when it does flood, they come down and try and clear the drains, but that’s not the problem. After the earthquakes, this whole area is a bit of a hollow, so it always floods here.”

His neighbour Katherine Rutherford was also stuck and watched two cars succumb to the water from her window.

The repeated flooding was getting worse and beginning to take a toll, she said.

“It’s really inconvenient. I know that [the council] were hoping that when they fixed the Flockton Basin it would fix the issues here too. But they fixed that part and this is the effect.

“I don’t think they’ve done a full fix… This is like the over-flower,” Rutherford said.

Christchurch City mayor Lianne Dalziel said the council had spent millions reducing the flood risk.

It was in the process of building retention basins and had bought some properties that were at extreme risk.

But neither measure was a silver bullet, she warned.

“This event was a huge event on already saturated grounds. So it’s going to take the councils to come to keep a close eye on the work that needs to be done… But the reality is that there are some areas that are still very low lying, and even if you clear the drains there is nowhere for the water to drain to.”

Canterbury Public Health said anyone who was cleaning up affected areas should wash their hands thoroughly with soap, amid reports of sewage overflowing into flood waters.

People were also being urged to avoid contact with beaches, rivers and floodwaters for the next two days.