Repeat flooding disheartens business owners
TWO floods in the space of a month have frustrated Dunedin businesses.
A burst water main in Leith St, central Dunedin, damaged the road and sent dirty brown water gushing into nearby businesses yesterday afternoon.
Firefighters did not have far to go to help with sandbagging, as the incident happened right behind the central Dunedin fire station.
It was the second flood in a month, after a water main burst in the same area on Boxing Day.
Normans Auto Electrical owner Garry Applegarth said he was disappointed it had happened again.
He was watching the cleanup efforts from his flooded workshop.
‘‘The council, or whoever owns the water mains, needs to be more proactive with maintenance,’’ he said.
The Boxing Day flooding led to a nearly threehour cleanup job at his business, and yesterday’s flooding was worse.
‘‘There’ll be a very dirty mess [today].’’
He did praise firefighters for helping to protect his business from further floodwater.
Further down Harrow St was HCB Technology salesman Todd Treweek.
He said smaller levels of flooding were common, but he had never seen it as bad as yesterday.
‘‘I was just worried it was sewage,’’ he said.
Several other businesses along Harrow St and Leith St had sandbags in place to try to stop the water getting in, with varying levels of success.
Council 3 Waters group manager Tom Dyer said the cause of the issue was being investigated, but it was likely to be due to the age of the pipework.
Staff were assessing the pipework for renewal, he said.
Some cars in the area were towed as a precaution and staff would be on site to make arrangements for their collection.
Council staff and contractors were also cleaning up the area yesterday afternoon and helping affected businesses.