Residents blame council tardiness for damage to properties

Southshore residents are angry that a lack of flood protection allowed homes in their seaside Christchurch suburb to flood in last week’s storm.

Several Rocking Horse Rd residents had to evacuate when the Avon-Heathcote Estuary flooded their houses at high tide on Saturday afternoon.

Hundreds of others had their gardens, garages and sheds flooded.

The water ran onto the properties through gaps in a stopbank bund built by the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority (Cera) on red-zoned estuaryfront land. Residents asked the Christchurch City Council two years ago to continue the stopbank across the councilowned land at the ends of the streets.

During the storm on Friday, council workers arrived after the estuary began to flood and used earthmoving equipment to block up the gaps in the stopbank. The work was completed early on Saturday, preventing further flooding.

Southshore Residents Association chairman Bill Simpson said some people were ‘‘very, very angry’’ that the work had not been done earlier. ‘‘If council had done the work when asked, it would have been a quick fix and prevented the homes from flooding,’’ he said. ‘‘We have been pushing for a couple of years since those initial bunds were built by Cera.

‘‘There always seem to be delays. I know they have other priorities but the annoying thing is it was so predictable.’’

The council’s land drainage manager, Keith Davison, said they prepared for the storms based on forecasts from MetService and Niwa.

‘‘Unfortunately the forecasts did not give warning of the storm related tidal surge that occurred,’’ he said.

Davison said the council responded ‘‘immediately’’, bringing in contractors and materials. Construction of a bund to fill in the low spots began within a couple of hours, he said.

Temporary pumps were also brought in. The estuary flooding caught experts by surprise. MetService called it ‘‘an unexpected late storm surge’’.

Last year, Southshore resident and Burwood-Pegasus Community Board member Tim Sintes said in a submission on hazard zonings to the council’s Independent Hearing Panel that Southshore residents felt abandoned and betrayed.

Sintes asked in his submission why the council spent so little money on flood protection for Southshore, compared to Sumner and Redcliffs on the other side of the estuary.