Floods frustrate Urenui residents
Residents of a North Taranaki village are sick of their homes and sections flooding and water pipes bursting when it rains.
Urenui locals say the New Plymouth District Council’s lack of spending on stormwater, sewerage and water supply infrastructure is causing serious, ongoing issues.
But the New Plymouth District Council claims the drain causing the problem is on private property and they’ve been trying to help.
Whakapaki St resident John Honeyfield said his section, which is at the bottom of a steep hill, constantly flooded after heavy rain because the stormwater drains couldn’t cope and the council wasn’t taking the right approach to fix it.
‘‘The stormwater drains aren’t big enough to handle the flow of water now with all of the extra housing and concrete put in over the years,’’ Honeyfield said.
‘‘Basically they are trying to fix the problem from the bottom but you have got to fix it from the top so you can divert the water down through bigger pipes and it will solve the whole issue.’’
Temporary barriers, road cones and sandbags lined the street at the bottom of the hill after recent rains again caused problems.
Honeyfield said when it rained the water coming down the hill flowed straight on to his property which made it waterlogged and was causing the piles his house sits on to sink.
‘‘It’s just like a big water mass coming down through here basically, you could surf on it.
‘‘It’s just making my whole sec- tion wet and having to put up with everybody else’s stuff coming down through here when it should be piped correctly.’’
Honeyfield said the problems had been going on for five to six years and the council was not doing enough to address the situation which had left him feeling frustrated.
‘‘You pay rates and I don’t mind if my rates go up a little bit to cover this but it needs to be sorted soon.’’
His neighbour Judy Ransom said while her property was higher she didn’t know how those in low lying areas coped.
‘‘It’s like a waterfall coming down here when it rains,’’ Ransom said.
Julie Allerton said four major water supply pipes had sprung leaks in the last six months and the infrastructure was struggling to cope with the demand.
‘‘The pipes are just knackered,’’ Allerton said.
She had repeatedly tried to bring the issue to the attention of the NPDC and Clifton Community Board but didn’t receive any feedback.
‘‘I’m bitterly disappointed at their lack of communication.
‘‘This has been an issue of a long time and patching the issue up is not fixing it.’’
Allerton said last time the area flooded it caused damage to the carpets and walls in her home.
Honeyfield said the residents of the village were being made to feel like second class citizens.
NPDC Infrastructure Manager David Langford said the council has been closely working with the homeowners on the drainage issue in Urenui since July 2007.
‘‘The flooding is caused by a drain on private property which is at the end of a natural water course.
‘‘It is the responsibility of the private property owner to make sure that their drainage system is maintained and working properly so that it does not causing flooding to other properties.
‘‘NPDC has undertaken work a number of times in a bid to help resolve the problems, including improvements to NPDC’s stormwater systems in the area.
‘‘We will continue to maintain the NPDC stormwater infrastructure so that it is regularly cleaned, clear of blockages and in full working order.’’
‘‘The stormwater drains aren’t big enough to handle the flow of water.’’ John Honeyfield Whakapaki St resident