We've been smashed again.
I live in the eastern suburbs and like many others, my home has suffered liquefaction again.
It's devastating and we've just about had enough.
After February 22 I had no power for about 10 days and water for about three weeks. My wife was overseas at the time so
for a guy on his own it was manageable.
You wash in a bucket, and do other things in a bucket. You get water from friends and relatives and impose on them to use their washing machines.
You don't eat a lot because you can't cook and you lose weight. So there's the odd good thing that comes out of a disaster.
In the last couple of months the toilet has been flushing and hot showers are back, and the washing machine has been going in a limited way. The freezer has been restored and life has got back to normal. So despite the cracks in the house, the driveways, paths and constant aftershocks, and wondering if your house will be repaired or knocked down it's been like living in a five-star hotel.
But we're now back to what it was like on February 22, but the liquefaction yesterday was much worse.
One drain was spared in February, but not yesterday.
That's going to make life uncomfortable for the foreseeable future. There's water everywhere in the eastern suburbs; some roads in the area are like mini rivers.
The Avon River now looks menacing, a heavy rain will push it over the stopbanks that have been put up to repel a king tide. So far it's been a fairly dry autumn and winter, but Mother Nature has been a nasty piece of work to us Cantabrians since September. And we're not expecting her to get any friendlier.
So we're hoping Gerry Brownlee, the experts and the insurance companies will be able to put together a plan that will determine what areas will never be able to be rebuilt on again.
You can only take so much liquefaction.
Barry Clarke is editor of The Star newspaper.
