Little River, about 30km south of Christchurch, was cut off after SH75 due to flooding. Photo: Supplied/Facebook
Residents of a Banks Peninsula town are angry and frustrated as they say opening a nearby lake to the ocean would've mitigated flooding in the area.
Little River, about 30 kilometres south of Christchurch, was cut off after State Highway 75 through the town was inundated by half a metre of water.
The Christchurch City Council opened Lake Forsyth-Wairewa to the ocean last night, but homes and businesses had already been flooded.
The council said opening the lake earlier would not have prevented flooding in the town.
But residents said the water drained from the area last night as if a plug had been pulled from a bath tub, once the lake was opened.
Mario Downes has called Little River homes for the past 30 years.
"The lake wasn't opened in time. With all the prior warnings for this event, something like that should've happened," Downes said.
"There's this argument that the lake level doesn't affect the flooding in Little River. If that was the case, then the road here would've cleared before they opened the lake.
"The road did not clear until they opened the lake and it just annoys me that all the modelling and everything these professionals that sit behind a desk have said, have got no experience of actually living through these floods."
The council had intended to open the lake on Saturday, but that was too late, Downes said.
"They knew about this weather event a week before, so if it was so close why didn't they push and open it up?" he asked.
"Just some common sense. Even from an office desk they could see this weather event was coming, they could see how close the lake was to the level of being opened, they were going to open the lake today anyway - bring it forward a week.
"What difference is a week going to make in the budget or in the scheme of things? But it makes a hell of a difference to the town of Little River."
Lisa Ashfield is counting the cost of the 20 centimetres of floodwater which went through her Little River second-hand store. Photo: RNZ/Tim Brown
Lisa Ashfield was busy assessing the damage to her second-hand store in the town.
More than 20 centimetres of water had washed through her business and, even though she took the step of raising everything off the ground ahead of this week's rain, the damage was extensive.
"It's been a disaster - a nightmare," Ashfield said.
"It is very stressful. I'm not sure if I have processed any of it completely yet."
It was unclear if insurance would cover her losses and without it, she would likely be forced to close the business.
Opening the lake could have minimised the damage she was now facing, Ashfield said.
"It absolutely would have," she said.
"May not prevented - we can't prevent the volume of water coming out of the sky and down from the catchments - but it would have meant the water can disperse as it's happening flowing that way rather than backing up and coming this way."
Andrew Davis shows the windows which were blown out by floodwater on Thursday. Photo: RNZ/Tim Brown
Andrew Davis, who manages the local service station, said more than two feet of water had gone through the store, lifting and overturning chest freezers filled with stock.
The floodwater was so powerful it smashed two windows at the front of the station.
"God knows how we're going to straighten it out - there's a big insurance claim coming," Davis said.
Little River resident Callum Fawcett said whenever Lake Forsyth got above three metres, residents knew flooding would occur.
The lake peaked at 4.15 metres on Friday evening - about 1.5 metres higher than it was on Wednesday morning - before it was opened to the sea.
"They knew [the weather was coming], they just didn't act on time. That's the biggest issue we've got here," Fawcett said.
The council said it opened the lake on Friday and expected it would drain for a week.
"Flooding in Little River and surrounding areas is caused by issues higher up in the catchment and would not have been prevented by opening Lake Forsyth earlier," the council said in a statement on Friday.
Emergency Management Minister Mark Mitchell did an aerial reconnaissance over Selwyn and Banks Peninsula.
He has defended the way officials have handled the management of the storm.
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