Residents and contractors build a sandbag wall on the corner of Hathaway and Gouland Sts to stop surface water on a paddock pouring on to the street. Photo / Kira Carrington
Residents and contractors build a sandbag wall on the corner of Hathaway and Gouland Sts to stop surface water on a paddock pouring on to the street. Photo / Kira Carrington
A Spring Creek resident confronted the boss of the Marlborough District Council today as he and the mayor visited the flooded township after a “precautionary” 24-hour evacuation order was lifted.
The showdown happened at the end of Gouland St, where residents and contractors were hard at work erecting a sandbagwall to protect houses from surface water coming from a paddock next door.
The council had provided the sandbags and an industrial water pump, which was pumping water from the paddock into the adjacent Wairau River.
But the angry resident, who would only give his first name, Leo, told council chief executive John Boswell the council wasn’t doing enough, and wasn’t supplying enough sandbags.
Leo claimed the council team were only there because he had called the office asking where they were, as residents returned to their waterlogged properties after a night away.
Leo told Boswell he was told on the phone the council was “just doing what they can do”.
“It’s not enough ... Last year we had the sandbags around that corner, but why this year we don’t have any?
“I was not happy when they just told me they are just doing what they can do. It’s not the [right] attitude.
“Why this time, everyone [has] just arrived home and we report to the council, then you guys come. It shouldn’t happen like that.”
Boswell told Leo the council was “prioritising the resources” to the areas that had the “greatest need”.
Boswell said he understood Leo’s frustration.
“I can understand why you’re losing your patience. But please know that we’re doing everything we can, as safely as we can, to make sure that we get it back to a state that you can get back into your house and get on with your life as soon as it is safe and appropriate.”
The council was concerned a compromised stopbank could fail and the river could threaten properties. The Wairau River, which ran alongside the township, peaked at just over 4000 cumecs about 5pm yesterday.
A “be ready to evacuate” notice was issued to residents of Renwick’s Lower Terrace later yesterday after a stopbank there was found to be unstable.
The Spring Creek stopbank exhibited lateral spread in the 2016 Kaikōura earthquake and was further damaged in the July 2021 Wairau flood.
In January 2023, the repair project was reprioritised and funding was secured through the Long-term Plan process.
An $8.7 million construction programme, including $3.6m from central government, was agreed on with the community in May 2024, with groundwork expected to start in November this year, before construction was carried out in November 2026. The stopbank was due to be rebuilt by June 2027.
Marlborough Mayor Nadine Taylor said she believed the council needed another “town hall meeting” with the Spring Creek community following the heavy rain event – perhaps in a few weeks’ time.
Today the council said the stopbank had showed its resilience in the deluge, with no sign of seepage or slumping.
A Hathaway St resident put sandbags down on Friday, to no avail. Photo / Kira Carrington
Leo, who had lived on Spring Creek’s Hathaway St for two years, told Boswell the council needed to crack on and strengthen the stopbank this year.
“I really want to see [someone] working [on it] for the rest of this year,” Leo said. “I don’t want this one happening again next year. It’s so frustrating for everyone here.
“I don’t mean to be pissed off, but this time it’s really annoying.
“If we could do something in advance, that would be better. I really care about the people here.”
A council spokesperson today stressed the stopbank had performed well and that Spring Creek – like all of Marlborough – was inundated with surface flooding.
Andy White, the council’s rivers and drainage engineering manager, said in an earlier press release the Spring Creek stopbank was “extensively monitored” during the rain event.
“The good news is there was no observation of any seepage or slumping – the bank performed better than we had hoped,” White said. “We have every confidence the community is safe and they were only evacuated as a precaution.”
Marlborough’s 220km network of stopbanks proved resilient during the rain and significant flooding, White said.
“Council’s ongoing investment including planning for contingencies at Spring Creek and major works at the Taylor Dam have played a significant role in the success of the system during this rain event,” he said.
The only new issue was at the confluence of the Waihopai and Wairau Rivers, where a section of the bank was damaged, which was picked up during routine flood monitoring yesterday and resulted in part of Renwick being evacuated as a precautionary measure.
“An immediate temporary fix was made when we saw early signs of failure and it was monitored closely throughout,” White said. “There will be a fast-tracked solution to repair the damage.”
LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.
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