Flash flooding stuns locals left to mop up

A Barnard Rd resident surveys the water that entered her garage. Thankfully, her home suffered little damage after yesterday's deluge. Photo / Stephen Parker

Torrential rain sees stream burst its banks and inundate homes

Residents of Barnard Rd in Fairy Springs said they hadn't seen so much water in a long time as torrential rain threatened their homes and property.

Andy Sloane reckons if it had rained for another 20 minutes he was sure water would have entered his house and caused a lot more damage.

At it was, one of the cars parked in his driveway was half-way submerged, the contents of his garage were swamped and his backyard resembled a lake.

His property is right next door to the Waiwhero Stream which had burst its banks.

At 10.30am yesterday water was about half a metre deep all the way back to the intersection of Darroch St and had flooded a number of properties with garages and sleepouts the worst hit.

Mr Sloane said his partner alerted him to the situation and he rushed home to see what he could do.

"I thought she was being a bit dramatic and then she FaceTimes me showing the car under water, so I shot home.

"It all happened in the space of about two hours.

"I went to work at 7am and could see about half a metre of clearance under the bridge over the stream.

"When I got home the bridge was covered with water - you could only see the top handrails."

Andy Sloane rescues some property after the Waiwhero Stream burst its banks flooding his back yard, garage and driveway. Photo / Stephen Parker

He said the rain was unbelievable and the pair spent the afternoon cleaning up.

He was thankful he had insurance for his car and contents.

"There's no damage in the house, but a lot of water under it.

"I certainly believe if it kept raining for another 20 minutes we would have had water in the house - luckily we didn't," Mr Sloane said.

An elderly Barnard Rd resident, who did not want to be named, had lived in the same property for 48 years and said she had not seen as much water as she did yesterday.

"I'm lucky the water only came into the basement.

"But it left behind a lot of mud and bits and pieces."

She said by early afternoon most of the water had receded.