Storm surge leaves Natureland swamped
One side of Tahunanui’s Natureland turned into a lake during last week’s king tide and storm surge event.
Natureland director Meg Rutledge said the park had coped ‘‘very well’’, and no animals were harmed, despite some fairly deep flooding last Thursday.
She said a rush of water had come through very quickly during the king tide, and from an ‘‘unexpected side’’ of the park.
‘‘It came from the Modellers Pond, so we received no flooding from the beach side. But when the storm drainage at the Modellers Pond overflowed and couldn’t cope, the water near high tide started absolutely pouring into that side of Natureland, like a river,’’ she said.
The park had never had flooding from the Modellers Pond during a king tide previously.
She said within the space of 10 minutes, at least a foot of standing water surrounded the meerkat enclosure and some of the primate habitat.
‘‘However they’re all well built... we were able to get all of the animals into their warm, dry, safe indoor areas.’’
The team had done a ‘‘brilliant job’’ taking care of the animals in areas most at risk from flooding, and the water had receded by midafternoon. The animals in the risk-zone were kept indoors overnight, due to the uncertainty about the next high tide.
The habitats had been designed with various emergency procedures to ensure animals were safe and it was pleasing they had worked as planned.
Rutledge said her only ongoing concern was that salt water may have affected some of the vegetation in the enclosures.
‘‘Which would be a shame, but of course in the grand scheme of things we consider ourselves quite lucky,’’ she said.
The water, when rushing in, was strong enough that some of the 240-litre rubbish bins that were filled with sawdust were lifted up and floated, but no major debris had come in from outside the park.
‘‘The perimeter fence really kept the bulk of it out of the park, so the debris we had was just things that fell within the park zone, and was manageable.’’
The team had given everything a good ‘‘rinse off’’ the morning after the storm, and the park was open for business as usual.
At Tahunanui beach, the children’s play area was under water during the storm, with some of it remaining under water the follow- ing day.
Nelson City Council spokesperson Ali Hamblin said the footbridge beach access and the rope fencing around the dunes area would need rebuilding.
She said the toddlers play area at the eastern end of the Tahunanui Playground would also need ‘‘considerable work’’ to both remove sand and check the equipment before it could reopen.