‘Never-ending rain’ exacerbating Edgar Centre’s leaky roof issue

Here is hoping the Edgar Centre staff will not need to jerry-rig a makeshift drainage system out of a tarp, tubing and a trash can tonight.

The Otago Nuggets are hosting the Southland Sharks in a crucial National Basketball League game at the venue and the roof ... well, it has got a few leaks.

Last year the fixture had to be shifted to another court when moisture found its way through the overhead defences and on to the playing surface.

That problem was fixed but, with the biblical amount of rain dousing the country and province in recent weeks, a few more leaks have sprung up.

Earlier this month staff had to channel their inner-MacGyver — a fictional 1980s television character who could fix just about anything with his trusty pocket knife — to construct an improvised drainage system out of tarpaulin, hosing and a rubbish bin.

Rain was finding its way in again and some club netball and basketball games had to be relocated to other courts.

But Edgar Centre manager Blair Crawford said the problem was mainly confined to the wooden courts inside the main building rather than the arena where the Nuggets will play tonight.

"This never-ending rain does not help," he said.

"But we’ve got some fundamental issues with the roof which are getting worked on. They’re quite major fixes involved, so there is no easy solution."

The roof has previously been repaired, but during the past six months "it has deteriorated to a point where it is getting difficult for us to operate".

The building is on reclaimed land and Crawford said new leaks will always emerge as the building moves.

"Those things are just ongoing repairs. It is just finding them and repairing them. But in this instance there has been some deterioration around the flashings.

"They are being replaced, but there has been supply issues, Covid, you name it which have delayed getting this completed.

"And since they’ve started doing the flashings they have discovered some more repairs that need to be done."

Leaky roofs are not a problem unique to Dunedin. The second half of game four of the NBA Western Conference finals between the Dallas Mavericks and the Golden State Warriors in May was delayed when the roof of the American Airlines Centre in Dallas dripped water on to the court.

Watching how staff approached that problem was the inspiration behind the tarpaulin, hose and rubbish bin.

No No 8 wire needed this time.