Residents of a Horowhenua township who’ve been without power for three days say more should’ve been done to stop the flooding that caused the outage.
Fifteen Waitarere Rise residents lost power on Wednesday morning, after floodwaters caused an electricity box to start smoking.
It started with a downpour a week ago, which filled the lakes meant to act as a catchment for heavy rains.
Overflowing water pooled in low-lying areas, flooding an electricity box – meaning lines company Electra had to turn the power off.
Photo: RNZ
However, resident Elizabeth Valentine said the problem had been around much longer.
“We’ve been residents in Waka Tete Place since 2016 and we first became aware of flooding in this particular paddock here, which has got an outflow from the artificially created lake, in 2017 and it’s just got progressively worse.”
Her partner Michael Portman said he contacted the council a week ago warning them of rising water levels, but said he was told they were on their own.
While more catchment in the subdivision could solve the problem in the short term, the couple wanted to see more forward planning for the area.
“The long term solution here obviously has to be what’s happened in the rest of Waitarere where they have kerbing, stormwater channelling,” he said.
“Those outlets go directly to the ocean. There’s none of that infrastructure in place in this estate and that needs to be implemented ASAP.”
Their neighbour Julie Calcott agreed better stormwater management was urgently needed.
“Somebody’s got to do something, because I certainly don’t know what to do. I don’t think most of us know what to,” she said.
“We’re on septic tanks that are run by power so there’s no power to that.
“So there’s no showers, there’s no washing, there’s no water for anything really. So yeah, you’re sort of stuck.”
Photo: RNZ
Roger Truebridge from developer Truebridge Associates declined to be interviewed but said his company started pumping out water yesterday, out of the goodness of his heart.
He said the electricity box flooded because a resident dug a channel from the nearby lake, though this was disputed by residents.
Truebridge also pointed out there had been an unprecedented amount of rain.
However, over on Kanuka Drive, Rob Davidson said water ponding had been an issue at the development for years.
He said he kicked up a fuss before building on his house began, and developers subsequently raised the ground.
“Poor design by the developer, and the council obviously not checking it and making sure it was done properly – that’s what they get paid for, that’s what they’re supposed to do, and as far as I’m concerned it’s gone through and they need to act on it,” he said.
“They own the responsibility of it, not us.”
Photo: RNZ
However, Horowhenua District Council chief executive Monique Davidson said landowners were responsible for dealing with stormwater, as per their consent conditions.
She said the council was supporting affected residents, and wouldn’t be thinking about a long term solution until the current problem was solved.
“Now that’s not something that will necessarily fall on the shoulders of council, but certainly council in a co-ordination role, we’ll absolutely look to understand how we can discuss those matters, not only with homeowners but also the developer.”
Davidson couldn’t comment on whether the area would be rezoned from rural to residential to ensure stormwater provisions were in place.
Meanwhile, residents were left mopping up today and wondering what would come tomorrow with hundreds more homes slated for the area in future.
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