Flooding still an issue

On Thursday, May 14 flooding occurred in Hume St, Alicetown.

Water came in from the road down my driveway flooding my complete section and garage and front porch.

The water was about 10cm from coming into my house.

Some furniture was marked by the water and documents I had in the garage ruined.

This is not the first, second or third time it has happened; it’s an ongoing problem.

The Hutt City Council know about the problem. A few years ago someone spoke Bruce Sherlock, GM City Infrastructure replies: Lower Hutt experienced an unusually high level of rainfall on May 14, with 96 mm of rainfall falling over a 24hr period, 48 mm falling between 11am and midday.

HCC significantly increased its funding for stormwater works in response to storms in 2004 and 2005, and as a result, given the volume of rainfall, we were generally pleased with the overall city-wide performance of the drainage system.

We will be conducting a full review of this latest storm event, but at this stage we expect that any infrastructure works identified will be able to be managed within existing budgets.

On Hume St: The council spent $420,000 in 2008/2009 to improve drainage in the area.

We are glad to see that these works meant that flood water did not enter Mr Oliver’s house, even in last week’s extreme event.

Council does have provision in its current LTP for further works in this area, and the timing of these works will be considered as part of the review.

As to Mr Oliver’s points about funding of events, HCC’s vision is to make the city a great place to live, work and play.

Council has responsibility for the things that make a city function the roads, parks, water and waste collection and approximately 75 per cent of the budget is set aside for infrastructure projects and maintenance.

But council also has responsibility to provide community facilities like pools, libraries, museums and events – things that enhance the cultural fabric of the city.

Recent Communitrak survey results indicate that almost two thirds of households in Lower Hutt took part in council managed events in the last year and satisfaction levels for such events were close to 98 per cent.