Barry Clarke: You can only take so much

Some streets in the eastern suburbs have become mini rivers. Photo / Geoff Sloan

Opinion

We've been smashed again. I live in the eastern suburbs and my property, like many, many others, has suffered liquefaction again.

It's devastating, and I and many of my neighbours - those who didn't leave after the February 22 tragedy - have just about had enough.

Back then, I had no power for about 10 days or water for about three weeks. My wife happened to be overseas, so for a guy on his own, it was manageable.

You wash in a bucket, and do other things in a bucket. You get water from friends and relatives and impose on them to use their washing machines.

You don't eat a lot because you can't cook, and you lose weight. So there's the odd good thing that comes out of a disaster.

In the past couple of months the toilet has been flushing and hot showers are back, and the washing machine has been going in a limited way.

The freezer has been restored and life has got back to normal.

So despite the cracks in the house, the driveways, paths and constant aftershocks, and wondering if your house will be repaired or knocked down, it's been like living in a five-star hotel.

But we're now back to what it was like on February 22, although the liquefaction yesterday was much worse.

One drain was spared in February, but not yesterday.

That's going to make life fairly uncomfortable for the foreseeable future.

There's water everywhere in the eastern suburbs; some roads in the area are like mini rivers.

The Avon River now looks menacing, a heavy rain will push it over the stopbanks that have been put up to repel a king tide.

So far it's been a fairly dry autumn and winter, but otherwise Mother Nature has been nasty to us Cantabrians since September.

And we're not expecting her to get any friendlier.

So out east we're hoping Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee, the experts and the insurance companies will be able to put together a plan.

You can only take so much liquefaction.