Queenstown prepares for possible flooding. Photo / Otago Daily Times
Queenstown business owners had an anxious wait overnight as Lake Wakatipu threatened to spill into the resort.
Late last night, business owners and helpers in the central business district were still sandbagging premises ahead of a predicted lake level peak of 312.2m. The town centre had been closed to vehicles.
As some roads and reserves on the shores of Lake Wakatipu flooded yesterday, the Queenstown Lakes District Council warned businesses to prepare for more of the same following heavy rainfall.
In the worst-case scenario, about 35 businesses in the Queenstown central business district could be affected, as well as several buildings in smaller lakeside towns, Mayor Clive Geddes said. Many of the premises were evacuated yesterday and merchandise and fittings removed.
"We are not going to be in the position that we were in 1999 ... [when the attitude was] 'Don't worry about it, in a couple of days it will be gone'. We have in place much better data than was available in '99."
MetService reported last night that the last in a series of heavy storm fronts had crossed Fiordland and the Otago headwaters, and the rain there had eased.
The Novotel Queenstown Lakeside hotel shifted guests from its bottom floor and cleared furniture from rooms that could be affected.
Large pipes and concrete blocks were installed on the waterfront to help deflect any potential wave action, while a boom was in place to keep debris from building up in Queenstown Bay. Sandbagging stations had been set up.
Businesswoman Trudi McKay, the owner of Positive Image Kodak Express, said her machines and stock were moved out in anticipation of flooding similar to that 11 years ago, "when it was up to our armpits".
She and staff were sandbagging the store, and were prepared to pump water if it arrived from the lake.
- ADDITIONAL REPORTING: OTAGO DAILY TIMES
