Suburb could be under water

Large parts of the Lower Hutt suburb of Petone could be under water before the end of the century if climate change continues on its current path, a damning new report reveals.

The study, commissioned by Hutt City Council, also suggests homeowners in the suburb at the northern tip of Wellington Harbour could find their homes uninsurable in as little as 30 years.

Petone, along with the Lower Hutt suburbs of Seaview, Alicetown and Moera, already face a number of threats relating to climate change.

The risk of flooding from heavy rain and storm surges is increasing and with the harbour rising, water cannot drain.

Hutt City Council resilience manager Jorn Scherzer said the problem was that a significant part of Lower Hutt was low lying, which was likely to have ‘‘large cost implications’’ for the council and wider community.

Lower Hutt was working on the basis that the sea would rise by 1 metre over the next 80 to 100 years, although some estimates have it rising as much as 3.5m.

The council was consulting on what could be done and who should pay the cost of potential solutions, such as a sea wall or relocating communities.

It also planned to set carbon targets to reduce the impact of climate change. Changes to the District Plan, seawalls, stopbanks and pumps were all possibilities to be looked at as well, Scherzer said.

He predicted insurers would stop offering insurance in Petone a long time before the suburb flooded. The worst-case scenario was that could happen in 30 years.

The report says the position of

the Insurance Council is that it will not insure against ‘‘things that are certain’’, which includes the rising sea level.

It will also become increasingly hard for homeowners in Petone to get a mortgage, the report said.

Insurance Council chief executive Tim Grafton said the risk facing Petone was unusually high.

As well as rising sea levels, there was also a high risk of liquefaction and a tsunami after a large earthquake, as well as flooding from the Hutt River.

He would not be drawn on a date for when Petone would become uninsurable, as that would ultimately be a decision made by individual companies.

Scientists did not agree on the likely level of sea rise and there were differing views on how it would impact Wellington Harbour, he said.

Planning now would help reduce the cost later and was an approach the insurance industry favoured, he said.

Long-time Petone resident and Hutt City councillor Tui Lewis said rising sea levels was a fact of life and the council was facing some tough decisions.

She doubted residents would willingly pay for a seawall but

agreed the time had come to have a discussion about the future of low-lying parts of Lower Hutt.

Some homeowners in the area, as well as those in nearby Eastbourne, were already unable to get online insurance quotes, and she said the situation was only going to get worse.

Petone realtor Elliott Kemeys said it was no secret that the suburb could get hit by an earthquake or a tsunami but no buyers had ever asked him about the impact of the harbour rising.

The average price of a house in Petone is $650,000. Kemeys doubted buyers would be put off by the threat of sea-level rise.

A map showing how sea-level rise is predicted to impact Lower Hutt suburbs can be found online. SEE DOMPOST.CO.NZ