It was an awful end to spring for some of our community, when torrential rain caused flash flooding, damaging a number of properties.
The flooding, on Sunday 29 November, left 15 Plimmerton homes uninhabitable and two Whitby properties were evacuated due to a slip the following day.
Many more homes were flood-damaged and the clean-up effort saw the Council, Wellington Water, Downer, regional response agencies and an incredibly supportive community team up to deal with the aftermath of the storm.
Mayor Anita Baker says the very heavy and localised rain that fell on the Sunday morning in a short time coincided with high tide, leaving the water which usually runs out to sea with nowhere to go, overwhelming the system.
"We are aware our infrastructure is ageing, and climate change is causing more severe weather events. This is why we’re proposing to more than double our 3-Waters infrastructure investment in our next Long-term Plan to $800 million. On top of that we have also asked Wellington Water to identify the flooding hotspots with a view to additional funding for those as well. We’ll be asking your views about this additional expenditure early next year."
Mayor Baker was heartened to see the way the Plimmerton community responded to the emergency - with residents, the volunteer fire brigade and many others all rallying in support of their friends and neighbours.
"This was a huge clean-up job. We put out skips and helped residents load flood-damaged items onto trucks, and everyone just pitched in. Our teams worked really hard, and the whole community really came together in amazing ways," she says.
"Some families will be affected by this freak weather event for some time. 2020 just keeps throwing up challenges and we really feel for you."
8 Dec 2020
