Otago Regional Council engineering, science and hazards director Dr Gavin Palmer said the Queenstown Lakes District Council and ORC were keeping an eye on the level of Lake Wakatipu in light of heavy rain predicted to fall from today until Sunday.
Lake Wakatipu could reach a level late tonight causing ponding in parts of Queenstown Bay, Kingston and Glenorchy and ‘‘potential minor surface flooding’’ on lakeside roads.
The rain was expected today in Westland and Fiordland with "significant spillover" into the headwaters of Otago over the next three days, Dr Palmer said.
Lake levels in Wakatipu and Wanaka were already high from rainfall over the past few weeks. Lake Wanaka was predicted to rise, but no issues were anticipated.
At 4pm yesterday, the level of Lake Wakatipu at Willow Place was 310.078m — the "high" lake level alert threshold was 310.800, with possible flooding in Queenstown once the level reached 311.300. During the historic floods in November 1999 the lake level reached 312.800.
