Precautionary approach to flood

Forecast rain could see Lake Wakatipu reach levels which will lead to some flooding of low-lying areas of reserve around Queenstown Bay, Kingston and Glenorchy.

“With the heavy rain received over the last week the lake reached the first warning level of 310.8 metres on Monday night,’ Queenstown Lakes District Council Mayor Clive Geddes said.

That triggered QLDC to make contact with retailers in the 1999 flood zone to ‘dust off’ flood plans, empty grease traps and consider dry land options for stock.

The Otago Regional Council in conjunction with Met service has forecast that Lakes Wanaka and Wakatipu are set to rise with further rain forecast tomorrow.

“There is a likelihood that low level flooding will occur on roads and reserves within the next 1-2 days,” Mr Geddes said. Lake Wanaka was expected to continue to remain below flooding levels.

“The ORC modelling indicates some low lying parts of the Queenstown CBD could be affected by the lake level on Friday or Saturday”, ORC director environmental information and science John Threlfall said.

“We will know more tomorrow but if we reach the position that we feel we need to take some more significant measures, such as sandbagging then we will give retailers plenty of lead in time,” Mr Geddes said.

At this stage both Councils had adopted a ‘watching brief’.

“Council staff have visited retailers in the potential flood zone and provided information to assist in preparation for a flood. At this stage it is precautionary,’ Mr Geddes said.

People can keep an eye on the lake level on the ORC website or by clicking on the link below.
Flooding and lake levels