Plimmerton faces a second beating from the weather
Lush green gardens have been transformed into murky pools of grey muck, parked cars are locked in sludge, and sediment has inundated garages after the worst flash flooding event to hit Plimmerton in a quarter of a century.
Residents of Plimmerton, in the northern reaches of Porirua, were in clean-up mode yesterday following Sunday’s torrential downpour, which rendered more than a dozen homes uninhabitable.
Properties in the Moana, Airlie and Cluny road areas were the worst affected when the area received more than half its monthly rainfall in 12 hours, said the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (Niwa).
The flooding peaked at about 10am on Sunday, Porirua Mayor Anita Baker said.
Residents had a nervous day yesterday anticipating heavy rain forecast for the evening. MetService predicted 39.6 millimetres of rain over a three-hour period until 9pm yesterday, and there were fears of further flooding.
A landslide into a property on Moonsail Drive in Whitby caused damage to two homes last night, with one evacuated, a Fire and Emergency NZ spokesman said. The area has been cordoned off and Porirua City Council were onsite.
With one eye on the skies above, locals armed with shovels, gumboots and wheelbarrows were working swiftly to return their sleepy coastal neighbourhood back to some semblance of normality yesterday morning.
Airlie Rd resident Marty Sammut had already ripped up his carpet and torn down his curtains following Sunday’s downpour.
He can’t bring himself to open the garage door again, recalling that at the height of the flood, the water was ‘‘knee-deep’’.
‘‘At about 9 o’clock [on Sunday], I noticed that the water was coming up pretty quick, and within half an hour it had gone from a puddle in the backyard to just below my gumboots. You just sit there and watch it come in.’’
While the area has been affected by flooding in recent years, ‘‘this was definitely the worst’’, Sammut said. It was ‘‘the first time it’s come into the house’’.
‘‘Your pots and pans are full of dirty water and it’s all contaminated with sewage.’’
After staying at his neighbours, he surveyed the damage yesterday: ‘‘It absolutely stunk.’’
The council said its priority was preparing for the forecast rain.
Wellington Water was on site at the height of the flooding and, while drains were operating normally, ‘‘the volume of water overwhelmed the system’’, it added.