Looting fears as homes vacated
Police will boost patrols in flooded Dunedin areas to stop looters targeting evacuated homes.
Senior Sergeant Phil McDouall said there would be many vacant houses after owners cleared out.
‘‘Some people take advantage of other people’s sorrow,’’ he said.
McDouall urged motorists to drive to the conditions. ‘‘Our biggest concerns are motorists travelling at speed through the affected areas and causing heartache to residents.’’
He urged those who had left their homes to remember their pets.
Police would also increase patrols in the area to reassure the public.
Officers were operating out of the second floor of the South Dunedin Police Station after the ground floor flooded.
The Fire Service responded to 345 events yesterday, 90 per cent of them in the South Dunedin area, East Otago Fire commander Laurence Voight said.
Dunedin Mayor Dave Cull told a Civil Defence briefing the flooding was ‘‘a more than a one-in-100year event, closer to 200’’.
About 175 millimetres of rain fell in the 24 hours from 4am Wednesday to 4am yesterday , the council said. It had exceeded the one-in-100 year flood level, which was 120mm during 24 hours.
A Mayoral Fund had been set up to help flood-affected residents.
The council received more than 3000 calls, including people volunteering to help with clean-up efforts.
About 30 homes were flooded, schools and kindergartens were closed and contractors were working to reopen 17 roads closed because of flooding and landslides.
The deluge washed away roads, caused slips, left debris strewn across the city and contaminated water with sewage.
Council roading maintenance engineer Peter Standring said contracting crews had been out since dawn, clearing slips and doing flood repairs.
Power was restored to most of 160 homes about 11.45am.
Slips on the Otago Peninsula caused much of the disruption, with Taiaroa Head and surrounding areas isolated.
Emergency services and the council urged motorists to avoid flooded areas, unless they lived or worked there, or were checking on family and friends.
Sightseers caused problems as the cars created bow waves that pushed floodwaters into properties.
The Civil Defence Welfare Committee set up a welfare centre at the South Dunedin Presbyterian Church in King Edward St.
Red Cross, police and DCC staff visited the hardest-hit areas in South Dunedin to check on residents and properties.
Even though rain had stopped, there were still hazards on the road, Standring said.
The Southern District Health Board (SDHB) set up an emergency operations centre in response to flooding to co-ordinate support for staff and patients. Incident Controller Elaine Chisnall said SDHB services were unaffected by flooding and patient clinics and surgeries went ahead as planned.
Two drivers had a lucky escape after their cars were swallowed by a sinkhole on the Otago Peninsula.
A section of Highcliff Rd, between Sandymount and Pukehiki west of Dunedin, slipped away about 8pm on Wednesday.
‘‘One car went in, and it was that deep that it disappeared and another car came in and landed on top of it,’’ Senior Constable Lox Kellas said.
A woman in West Otago spent an hour in a tree yesterday after she drove into floodwaters about 5 kilometres from Tapanui.
Firefighters rescued the ‘‘cold and distressed’’ woman at 8.15am.
In Dunedin, Glen Rd resident Hannah Van Alphen-Fyfe said a ‘‘substantial’’ landslide collapsed into a neighbouring property, narrowly avoiding a caravan and shed where a family lived.
The slide left a Walter St house at the top of the bank near the edge, she said.
MetService lifted its severe weather warning by 11.10am, as a complex low east of the South Island moved to the southeast.
The Forbuy Park Trotting Club meeting scheduled for last night was abandoned because of flood damage to the track and stabling area.
The flooding hadn’t stopped the Highlanders though, with the rugby team tweeting ‘‘Bit of rain doesn’t get in the way of a good training session in #Dunedin’’.
All primary and intermediate schools in Dunedin were closed yesterday, as well as King’s High School, Queen’s High School and Taieri College.