Weeks for repairs to rest-home

Residents of a South Dunedin rest-home damaged by floodwater on Thursday will not be able to return home for at least another two weeks.

Radius Fulton Care Centre, in Caversham, will require significant repairs after floodwater surged through the rest-home for the second time in three years.

The facility manager, Robyn Bowie, said it would be another two or three weeks before the first of the 89 residents  could return.

"We hopefully will be able to have some wings up and running in two or three weeks but it’s not as bad as it was in 2015."

Residents had either been relocated with family  or to other care facilities in the region.

It would be at least  two months before the home was  running at full capacity, Mrs Bowie said. It had been a "huge deal" to evacuate the home, but it had been done calmly and without any distress, she said. Other properties damaged in the deluge were visited by council building inspection and environmental health teams yesterday.

Dunedin City Council recovery manager Simon Pickford said 11 properties were visited  but  few homes had had floodwater  in them.

Most of the properties were located in South Dunedin.

All floodwater in South Dunedin was being treated as contaminated by wastewater after the system was overloaded during the storm.

The mayoral relief fund had been relaunched to help any residents badly affected by the flooding.

Council chief executive Sue Bidrose said a solution to the flooding problem in South Dunedin was still several years away but the council was working on it.

About $300million has been set aside in the council’s draft 10-year plan which included about $35 million to double the capacity of South Dunedin’s stormwater system.

"Those are three or four years in the planning before you even start to think about digging things up. You can’t spend $30 million and get it wrong. 

"You don’t get many bites at that cherry."

The council would be communicating with affected residents about the timeline of any projects, Dr Bidrose said.

Mayor Dave Cull said the city had been as well prepared as it could have been to handle the 108.4mm of rain which fell on Thursday.

"The team right across the board were really well prepared, so, from yesterday at daybreak, staff were out, various workers were out, contractors were out clearing stuff that might cause a problem when the rain came," Mr Cull said.

As well as the planning to increase the capacity of the stormwater system the council was looking at other measures to mitigate the impact of intense weather events due to climate change, he said.

"We’ve got to be aware these things don’t happen over two or three years. They’ll happen over decades, so it may actually be a staged set of measures we take where there’s something we put in place for 20 or 30 years."

There were some minor wastewater overflows to waterways and the harbour.

Because of that the council recommended people stay out of the water and  not collect shellfish from the Otago Harbour and coastal beaches until at least Monday.

Most of the roads closed during the flooding were reopened yesterday but closures were still in place at Hoopers Inlet and Papanui Inlet due to surface flooding.

High tides had caused damage to Aramoana Rd and the seawall so it was open to residents only from the Careys Bay Hotel to Aramoana.

The St Clair Hot Salt Water Pool  is closed for cleaning until Monday after high tides brought in debris yesterday morning.

tim.miller@odt.co.nz