DCC response wins praise from all quarters

THE Dunedin City Council has been widely praised for its response to the weekend flooding.

There has been an outpouring of appreciation on social media and in phone calls and letters to the editor of the Otago Daily Times.

The council yesterday took the compliments on behalf of all agencies involved, but warned frustrations may rise as the recovery process unfolds.

Olympic Gym director Gary Chalklin, of Mosgiel, contacted the newspaper noting changes between 2015 flooding and the weekend’s event.

The 2015 flood caused more than $1 million damage to his business.

He said on that occasion almost all the gym’s interior was under more than 10cm of water, and the gym would not have survived without support from its insurance company.

At that stage Mr Chalklin had felt let down because of insufficient maintenance of mudtanks under the city council’s control.

But since then the mudtank maintenance had greatly improved, as had communication from the council and contractors.

Staff had contacted the gym to say what they were doing and to ‘‘ensure that we were OK’’, he said.

He was ‘‘incredibly’’ grateful for the council’s more supportive approach, and said there had been so little damage he would not be filing an insurance claim after the latest flood.

Beverly Martens, of Wakari, thanked the council, contractors and emergency services for ‘‘their excellent work before and during, the storm’’ in a letter to the editor of the Otago Daily Times.

‘‘Having learnt an expensive lesson two years ago, the DCC’s attitude, vigilance and proactivity in clearing the drains, providing sandbags, along with helpful situational updates, is to be thoroughly commended.’’

Gerald Scoones raised the issue on social media yesterday, praising the role of the council during the flooding.

He said Mayor Dave Cull and Civil Defence had done ‘‘a fantastic job’’ in warning people of the event and advising them during and after.

Jennifer Kini agreed, and said every member of her family was in a different flood zone, but each knew what was going on because of the regular updates.

The Outram Volunteer Fire Brigade was also praised for the job it did, as were St Kilda and St Clair surf lifesavers who rescued nine people.

Dunedin City Council recovery manager Simon Pickford said the council was pleased with the feedback it was getting in terms of the support and communication provided.

‘‘The council coordinates, but obviously it’s multiagency, so we were just one part of that.

‘‘It’s good to hear the community feels a good job was done.’’