An initial assessment by Otago Regional Council indicates that its flood schemes performed well, highlighting the importance of flood resilience measures such as stop banks, and their role in protecting lives and livelihoods. Otago Regional Council has acknowledged that there are still struggles and distress for some people in the community who were affected by the substantive rainfall, and staff were in contact with those communities post-event. There were some reports of damage to some stopbanks which will be assessed by staff over the coming weeks.
The Riverbank Road Stopbank Stabilisation project in Lower Clutha was amongst the infrastructure that was put to the test. The project stabilised critical flood protection at four locations along Riverbank Road in the Lower Clutha delta, near Balclutha. Without these improvements, the stopbank could have been at risk, while protecting 9300 ha of valuable agricultural land.
Find out more about the project, here.
