Barry Cardiff needs his gumboots to wade down the driveway of his property in Seabury Ave, Foxton Beach, after this week's weather bomb hit. Photo / Nikki Carroll
Barry Cardiff needs his gumboots to wade down the driveway of his property in Seabury Ave, Foxton Beach, after this week's weather bomb hit. Photo / Nikki Carroll
When Foxton Beach resident Barry Cardiff's wife headed out the door on Tuesday morning to go to the pool, he jokingly said, "No need Helen ... you could just swim here."
With the heavy rain overnight on Monday, and the resultant run-off (overland flow) from neighbouring Edinburgh Terrace, the Cardiffs property in Seabury Ave had a 100mm-deep pool of water surrounding their house.
"This has been an ongoing problem since we moved into this house in 2004," said Barry. "I need gumboots to walk down my driveway [when this happens]."
Barry Cardiff's neighbours at No. 41 have their own flooding issues, and are also unsure of where to next to get this sorted. Photo / Nikki Carroll
Over the years the Cardiffs have laid extensive drainage pipes and two sumps on their property to try to help reduce the flooding issues.
Barry said their property had about 15cm of topsoil and the rest was compacted sand, and he understood the area had been swampland in the 1950s.
He had been in contact with the Horowhenua District Council on at least three occasions this month to ask for someone to come out to check the flooding issues; as of Wednesday evening, he still hadn't heard back from anyone.
"I took a walk around the neighbourhood to see if there was anything in particular causing issues," said Barry, "and noticed that a lot of the drains on Edinburgh Terrace are overgrown and full of rubbish."
Excessive water flow in Whitebait Creek, Foxton Beach, during the weather events of earlier this month has washed away part of the footpath on Edinburgh St. Photo / Nikki Carroll
Excessive water flow in Whitebait Creek, on the corner of Edinburgh Terrace and Flagstaff St, has also caused part of the footpath to collapse and some of the bank near the outflow has been washed away.
According to a Horizons Regional Council spokesperson, the only drain the river management team maintains in Foxton Beach is Whitebait Creek, which to their knowledge doesn't have any flooding issues associated with it.
The Cardiffs also have a luscious-looking vegetable garden set up in the back of their property, however, because of all the flooding that keeps happening, the produce is rotting underneath.
"The garden is Helen's hobby and she spends hours and hours in there," said Barry, "the flood damage is costing us time and money."
Seabury Ave residents are having to try all kinds of draining options to clear flooding from their properties - including pumping excess water onto the footpath and road. Photo / Nikki Carroll
Stormwater within the beach settlement is the responsibility of Horowhenua District Council, which has been inundated with a huge number of calls over the past two weeks with the extreme weather events the area has been having.
David Clapperton, CEO of Horowhenua District Council, said his staff would normally respond to calls about flooding issues in a timely manner.
"With this current rain event being the 10th one in the district so far this year, the staff who would deal with these calls are currently out on the road, dealing with flooding issues that are high priority due to affecting access or potentially life safety," said Clapperton.
He said the council is aware of the flooding issues affecting certain parts of Foxton Beach, but there needs to be a long-term solution put in place because part of the issue is to do with the condition of the existing culvert.
"We are using data gained during these rain events to identify all the work that needs to be done ... we need to create a master plan ... come up with a stormwater strategy for the whole of Foxton Beach."
The Cardiffs said they understand their particular flooding situation is not a high priority in terms of safety or access, but they have been asking for solutions to this problem for over 15 years.
"We would really appreciate the council coming up with ways to solve this issue sooner rather than later."
