After three days’ solid rain, the resort experienced its worst civil disaster — the record metre-high flood of November, 1999, which inundated about a third of the CBD, caused slips everywhere, including a big one on Frankton Rd, and cut off Queenstown from the rest of the country.
For those who want to check the flood level, a sculpture between Earnslaw Park and Steamer Wharf has metal rings showing the peak level of the ’99 flood and that of the previous record flood of 1878.
Someone in the middle of it all was Wilkinsons Pharmacy building owner Kim Wilkinson, who then also owned the business on the corner of Rees St and The Mall.
He recalls chief civil defence officer Phil Dunstan ringing him in the middle of the night advising him his building would flood.
He got in about 3am "and started putting towels and things around the doors", then started shifting stock before the water came in before 6am.
At that time he also called his staff in early, and they were able to relocate about 95% of all stock upstairs — "but we couldn’t do anything about the fixtures and fittings".
Wilkinson’s full of praise for how everyone responded so well to the flood.
At the time, for example, Mountain Scene reported jetboat company Twin Rivers Jet plying flooded streets for six hours to help other businesses, even evacuating guests from what’s now Absoloot Hostel.
Wilkinson traded from a medical centre in Athol St before returning to serve customers from trestle tables.
"It was nine months before we were fully operational again.
"We raised the floor level up to the level of the [next-door] Mee building, where we extended to, we made sure all our gondolas were on wheels so we could wheel them out and all the walls were made of metal fittings so they wouldn’t be destroyed in the way the wood fittings had been destroyed previously."
Wilkinson says he was "very lucky" his insurance company covered his shop fittings, loss of trade and minimal stock loss.
However, he notes CBD businesses haven’t been able to get flood insurance since, bearing in mind Queenstown had also flooded in ’94 and ’95 — an Aussie company did cover for about two years till they cottoned on, he says.
Wilkinson says he’s somewhat surprised the town’s not flooded since, despite, for example, some huge rainfalls this spring.
He attributes that to work done around the confluence of the Shotover and Kawarau Rivers, to lessen the likelihood of the Shotover backing up into the Kawarau and blocking Lake Whakatipu’s sole outlet, as occurred in ’99.
"I think the outflow is a lot better now.
"I’m really impressed with the way we seem to be able to handle flooding now."
