Public Address | Cafe | Up Front: Floodland

Ian Dalziel

Tue, 08 Apr 2014 09:15:51 +1200

We may need to re-think some parts the city.
The creeks near us (Dudley and others) are already over their banks today, and that's just steady rain, nothing torrential... it won't take much more to go wide.

Why they don't see this coming is beyond me, the vast alluvial Canterbury…

Hebe

Mon, 07 Apr 2014 22:02:38 +1200

Interesting; thanks Rob. So many layers to this.

Rob Stowell

Mon, 07 Apr 2014 17:36:20 +1200

We may need to re-think some parts the city.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7ioY0aa4SM&feature=share&list=UUsvo0rEyZcOEQUe3Yea1bJg&index=1

Ian Dalziel

Mon, 07 Apr 2014 17:31:59 +1200

New Chchch flood risk management map released.

Hebe

Thu, 27 Mar 2014 14:26:55 +1300

Go to one of the natural hazards meetings about the district plan (see CCC website) and ask. What area? Flockton plans seem to be well under way; Heathcote River area zilch that I know of.

Geoff Hill

Thu, 27 Mar 2014 10:12:15 +1300

I own a house in the flood zone and don't trust the Council to do anything about their drainage problem that is affecting us rate payers in such a serious way. I hear wind of a meeting for affected parties in the area but have not received any information. Can…

Moz

Mon, 24 Mar 2014 12:57:46 +1300

Suffice to say: if you're buying in Christchurch, get a thorough building inspection done, especially sub-floor.

Download and watch some "Holmes Inspection" the Canadian TV series. Their foundation problems are normally in-ground basements with frost issues, but the general picture that you have to do a bit of research into…

Hebe

Sun, 23 Mar 2014 20:02:33 +1300

That’s an interesting and rather terrifying article.

John McCrone did a great job putting everyone's point of view.

Lilith __

Sat, 22 Mar 2014 14:16:21 +1300

http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/business/the-rebuild/9856205/Quake-repairs-Can-we-trust-insurers?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

That’s an interesting and rather terrifying article.

Hebe

Sat, 22 Mar 2014 11:14:33 +1300

I meant to say "a good proportion of the 55,000 EQR [Fletchers] repairs": that is all those with foundation damage — of which I don't know the figures — it is a common form of damage on this side of town,

Suffice to say: if you're buying in Christchurch, get…

Hebe

Sat, 22 Mar 2014 10:57:53 +1300

This piece is a huge relief for us. John McCrone is finally able to pull all the threads together to make a sensible whole of all the confusing-to-a-non-professional details on quake house repairs, consents, flood zones, consents, strategies, what's permissible, what's not. [For some reason it is in the business…

Hebe

Fri, 14 Mar 2014 18:49:10 +1300

Seems the draft Distict Plan is out today. The Chch City Council's proposed expanded Flood Management Area in the draft District Plan, out for comment now. http://resources.ccc.govt.nz/files/TheCouncil/policiesreportsstrategies/districtplanning/districtplanreview/dprexistingandproposedfloodmanagementareamarch2014.pdf

A whole lot more info about the natural hazards parts of the draft District Plan: http://www.ccc.govt.nz/thecouncil/policiesreportsstrategies/districtplanning/districtplanreview/ourdistrictplanreview/naturalhazards.aspx

http://resources.ccc.govt.nz/files/TheCouncil/policiesreportsstrategies/districtplanning/districtplanreview/dprnaturalhazardschapterdraftmar2014.pdf

Hebe

Thu, 13 Mar 2014 20:44:37 +1300

Thinking like that is completely understandable Isabel. If the storms last week and this had not happened, there would be no urgency from the council staff, government and insurers to find an acceptable solution.

Isabel Hitchings

Thu, 13 Mar 2014 20:00:56 +1300

If it wasn't likely to cause hardship to other people, I could find myself hoping for enough rain to flood our house again. We're not planning on going back and I can't help wondering if a few more floods would help council and insurance hurry that along.

Hebe

Thu, 13 Mar 2014 17:19:02 +1300

I blame the Governors Bay Community Assoc for scheduling the community fete on Sunday 16th.

Next time please let me know as soon as the date is set.

Rob Stowell

Thu, 13 Mar 2014 16:07:17 +1300

Fingers crossed it’s not as bad as predicted, although then it’d be worry wasted, so no winners :(
I blame the Governors Bay Community Assoc for scheduling the community fete on Sunday 16th. They have a track record for picking bad weather, but never this bad.

Also: ECan can shove…

Lilith __

Thu, 13 Mar 2014 15:15:19 +1300

The MetVUW forecast chart for 1pm Sunday. Shit. Please stay safe, my friends.

Fuckkity fuck fuck.

Hebe

Thu, 13 Mar 2014 13:22:53 +1300

Serious. The CCC and CDEM have met this morning. Here's the link; make of it what you will:
http://ccc.govt.nz/thecouncil/newsmedia/mediareleases/2014/201403131.aspx

Right on cue an epic Ecan fail. During this morning's meeting — trying to avert a replay of last week's flooding during the forecast torrential rain and gales for this weekend…

Russell Brown

Thu, 13 Mar 2014 12:53:51 +1300

The MetVUW forecast chart for 1pm Sunday. Shit. Please stay safe, my friends.

Hebe

Wed, 12 Mar 2014 13:37:01 +1300

It's me, Jeremiah, again: CDEM and the CCC are meeting this afternoon about this weekend's forecast storm for Chchch.
Met Service: "...Given the saturated soil [in Canterbury], residents will want to keep an eye on this storm as it draws closer because periods of heavy, persistent rain could certainly bring…

Hebe

Mon, 10 Mar 2014 23:05:04 +1300

(Any books you especially miss? I can keep an eye open – will be going through a lot in the next few weeks.)

Not really heartbreaking Rob: it would be if I thought about it so I'm not.
Thank you indeed for the kind offer. I haven't really taken note…

Isabel Hitchings

Mon, 10 Mar 2014 17:24:37 +1300

Thanks for your offers of help. It is unbelievably reassuring to know that I have troops I can call in if need be.

We don't really need a great deal at the moment. We have a warm, dry place to stay for the next few weeks and we've gotten a…

wendyf

Mon, 10 Mar 2014 15:36:28 +1300

I just logged on so I could post something after I read someone's comment about 'resilient' (I have loathed that word for the last 2 years), and now I can't think of anything to say. I'm feeling so sad, fighting unhelpful guilt because I live in Opawa, just around the…

Rob Stowell

Mon, 10 Mar 2014 14:42:31 +1300

Sounds heart-breaking, Hebe. Hoping for better times ahead.
(Any books you especially miss? I can keep an eye open – will be going through a lot in the next few weeks.)

Hebe

Mon, 10 Mar 2014 11:16:07 +1300

Reading Ian's and Stephen's offers of help has put me in mind of "what the vicar told me" yesterday. The Woolston-Opawa-St Martins river loop properties have have been hit hard. Because the properties are more spread out and individually affected than the wholesale inundation of the Flockton Basin, the free…

Hebe

Mon, 10 Mar 2014 10:43:26 +1300

Sofie you have had four out of the five top life-stress events concurrently. What a serve. One foot in front of the other, and a comfortable bed to hide in is my current recipe. Hugs.

Sofie Bribiesca

Mon, 10 Mar 2014 10:12:31 +1300

We dealt with it in our Irish disputes resolution manner: a bellowing scrap. Building from a disagreement about the sorting sequence into a roaring swearing hurling: “I’ve always fucking hated this” Biff. “Why the fuck is this still here?” Hurl. Three years of behaving well broke, and we had a…

Hebe

Mon, 10 Mar 2014 09:27:23 +1300

Thanks Ian; this house is sorted.

Isabel: if there's anything we can help with: let me know. Transport?

We're going to wade through the past today: the remaining task is sorting the 20 boxes of books that were stored in the garage and have been dumped inside. They are the…

Stephen Judd

Mon, 10 Mar 2014 09:24:55 +1300

Yep I’m in for a PAS working bee etc too.

Ian Dalziel

Mon, 10 Mar 2014 07:42:08 +1300

..we really can’t wait until after the election to have our issues addressed.
True,
Sorry Isabel (and Hebe)
I was thinking big picture.

What do you and those around you need immediately and most?

Be it cash, goods, time, support – list it out here
there must be some of…

Hebe

Sun, 09 Mar 2014 17:00:02 +1300

Been doing a bit of neighbourhood de-gunging. Neighbour's two trailerloads to the dump (all the free skips are overflowing): $215. Thanks CCC. Not.

Wanker on a sit-up bike comes past: eight people working to fill the trailers — sewage-infested mud through the pile of stinking soaked memories. "You can't throw…

Isabel Hitchings

Sun, 09 Mar 2014 15:33:35 +1300

With the proposed electoral boundary changes, pretty much all of the Flockton Basin is set to become part of the Christchurch East electorate. I don't know what, if any, practical effect that might have but we really can't wait until after the election to have our issues addressed.

Stephen Judd

Sun, 09 Mar 2014 14:08:20 +1300

Gives me a sense of hope at last for the electorate’s representation.

Glad to hear it. He certainly knows how to organise an effective camapaign.

Ian Dalziel

Sun, 09 Mar 2014 13:53:23 +1300

Labour selects Tony Milne for Chchch Central

He looks like he could be the real deal to me.
He knows local issues and has good ideas
and he volunteered at 198 Youth Health Centre while studying at Canterbury, anyone who spends any time around Dr Sue Bagshaw, usually comes…

Hebe

Sun, 09 Mar 2014 12:04:13 +1300

Another instalment on the flood risk/land changes etc. As Rob Stowell says, it's mind-bendingly complex.

A piece I read recently online said that in the due-out-this-month draft District Plan the 50-year-flood FMA had been changed to include the 200-year-flood transition zone.

Sofie Bribiesca

Sat, 08 Mar 2014 15:26:56 +1300

The rest of NZ should be concerned: this is a precedent-setting situation that will be applied to every homeowner’s land insurance. It effectively renders land insurance near non-existent and building insurance full of get-outs.Banks will now start to lobby I would imagine: people will walk away from their properties. Resolving…

Robert Urquhart

Sat, 08 Mar 2014 12:36:37 +1300

Signal boost: http://sciblogs.co.nz/waiology/2014/03/07/calling-for-christchurch-flood-photos/
If you took any photos at or near peak water levels anywhere in Christchurch during Wednesday morning or early afternoon, please send them to NIWA (niwafloodphoto AT gmail.com; NIWA email malfunctioning at the moment sorry) with the street address and time, and with the subject “Flood”.

We…

Hebe

Sat, 08 Mar 2014 10:59:47 +1300

Love Will Terrace Apart ....'Transylvania Waters'

Very clever! Siltia Waters?

Ian Dalziel

Sat, 08 Mar 2014 10:40:18 +1300

Love will terrace apart...
An 'It-Coulda-Been-Me' levy/fund
might be attractive to the wider community,
country and social partners at the moment...
(which is pretty much what I thought the
EQC levies were perceived to be all about)

If the 'Flockton Basin' needs to become either
'Transylvania Waters' , 'The Basin…

Sacha

Sat, 08 Mar 2014 10:35:34 +1300

The question is: who pays? EQC says not; insurers say not.

and this government says "not our problem". Clowns like Brownlee actually 'negotiate' with the world insurance industry to smooth *their* way through the mess at the expense of the citizens he supposedly answers to. Vote these feckers out.

Ianmac

Sat, 08 Mar 2014 10:18:12 +1300

The awful thought is that now every time it starts to rain anxiety will set in. And if anyone in your family happens to be sick or the car has a flattish battery or the rain forecast is ambivalent or it is very cold, then the anxiety would multiply. The…

Danielle

Sat, 08 Mar 2014 09:56:34 +1300

I've always kinda thought this, but these sorts of situations prove that insurance companies are basically the devil.

Hebe

Sat, 08 Mar 2014 09:54:36 +1300

"Christchurch Is Pumping": class.

We could rebrand ourselves the Venice of the Southern Hemisphere.

Hebe

Sat, 08 Mar 2014 09:49:36 +1300

Stilts on TC3 is a challenge, though could be done (expensively). One man in the St Martins valley near the foot of the Port Hills put down 17-metre piles (he paid for the extra) as part of his extensive repair.

Isabel Hitchings

Sat, 08 Mar 2014 09:31:40 +1300

Thank you everyone for your kind thoughts. Even when there isn't a lot that can be done it helps to know that people are coming to understand the complexity of the situations we, and many other Christchurch residents, are facing.

Steven Raising houses is definitely something which has been discussed.…

Ian Dalziel

Sat, 08 Mar 2014 09:27:02 +1300

Marsh ado about ...
....put it on stilts.
Is that out of the question?
Hell no, bring on the Bayou
ship in more fiddlers...
We'll take a punt!

I'm more worried about an ACT coup or seachange in Chchch.
I had a vision of a flotilla of Gibbs Aquadas revving…

Hebe

Sat, 08 Mar 2014 09:26:39 +1300

Entirely possible.The question is: who pays? EQC says not; insurers say not. Even though the changes in the land are directly as a result of the earthquake, no entity will take responsibility. Despite full insurance — for land and for house.

If the problem is too big, no-one will own…

Ian Dalziel

Sat, 08 Mar 2014 08:48:29 +1300

Breakfast in the ruins…
… killed off the word “resilience”.
Don’t worry, like water, something else equally inane will rush in to fill the void.
How long till we are all ‘steeped in stoicism’?
Then it’s not too far to ’Job-like’ forebearance…
grrrr…

Perhaps I’ll revise my new cityslogan -…

Rob Stowell

Fri, 07 Mar 2014 23:44:54 +1300

The geographers were talking about changes to the rivers- beds uplifted, some narrowing; plus the estuary into which they all drain- it's come up, slowing flow down. And there are constructed stormwater drain problems over and underground. All on top of issues with the myriad smaller creeks, and some areas…

Lilith __

Fri, 07 Mar 2014 22:36:26 +1300

For once, a Chch disaster I’m on the *outside* of. Isabel, my heart goes out to you and all others affected. Thanks for writing this.

I was shocked to see my familiar stretches of the Heathcote river through Opawa and Woolston made unrecognisable, the river at one with the streets…

Rob Stowell

Fri, 07 Mar 2014 21:37:12 +1300

Jeez there's a lot to take in. a lot of info out there, once you start digging. Talking with some UC geographers today, and the intersecton of engineering, earth science, and human society can get terribly complicated.
Best wishes and hoping for a dry few days.

Keir Leslie

Fri, 07 Mar 2014 21:33:57 +1300

One (very minor) good thing about the floods is that at least it seems to have finally killed off the word "resilience".

Hebe

Fri, 07 Mar 2014 20:30:25 +1300

It will take new thinking, and a new kind of social contract, or plan between NZ government and citizens, rethinking our mutual obligations & needs

Yes!

Hebe

Fri, 07 Mar 2014 17:37:20 +1300

Please don’t try New Orleans flood protection around Chch.

It's happening now.

Hebe

Fri, 07 Mar 2014 17:12:32 +1300

Thanks NBR for digging for this EQC Flood Modelling report

Grouse. Thanks.

Figure 9: I have the link for close-ups of that somewhere.

Ross Mason

Fri, 07 Mar 2014 16:45:19 +1300

Gerry said that? He has to be joshing. If he didn’t know of this it is one his best Head-In-The-Sand responses of his career.

It has. Check Figure 9 of this GNS report

[[http://static.stuff.co.nz/files/tonkin-taylor.pdf | This Taylor and Tomkin report with similar piccie in Fig 3-4 page…

Lucy Stewart

Fri, 07 Mar 2014 15:00:20 +1300

John McCrone’s story in August 2012 in the Press is a good place to start understanding the issues. Then read Tonkin & Taylor land report. I cannot understand why Gerry Brownlee said yesterday he could not say whether land had dropped as a result of the earthquakes: shitloads of dosh involved?…

Bart Janssen

Fri, 07 Mar 2014 14:52:56 +1300

This is just so horrible for you Isabel and you have my sympathy, not that its much help.

As for one in a hundred year events – to be clear that is a journalistic term ie a steaming pile of bollocks.

Basically we have no real way to know how…

Hebe

Fri, 07 Mar 2014 14:51:29 +1300

The drop in the land levels is quite hard to get your head around, because it's pretty much invisible.

I Have been working on this since 2012 with various in the news media. Each time we managed to get little parts of the story chipped open, but the doors slammed…

Lucy Stewart

Fri, 07 Mar 2014 14:32:38 +1300

The drop in the land levels is quite hard to get your head around, because it’s pretty much invisible.

See, as someone who...did a bunch of geology courses...wait, that's not as authoritative as I meant it to be...anyway, I would be *totally fucking stunned* if the earthquakes hadn't radically altered…

Emma Hart

Fri, 07 Mar 2014 14:12:06 +1300

It seems like the land movement has fundamentally altered the risk profile for a lot of the city in ways that haven’t yet been worked through, because everyone’s still cleaning up from the quakes themselves.

There's a lot of... I was looking for an indirect way to say "money", but…

Joe Wylie

Fri, 07 Mar 2014 13:56:43 +1300

I do get a little grumpy at the event being called a 100 year event as if that can’t be planned for
That was rolled out back in 1992, when the drop in Southern lake levels was blamed on the eruption of Mt Pinatubo in the Philippines, and Aucklanders were…

Lucy Stewart

Fri, 07 Mar 2014 13:53:32 +1300

Thank you for taking the time to write this, Isabel. There's an immense feeling of helplessness all over again just seeing this on the news. I can't imagine what it's like on the ground. It's so relentless and unfair.

I do get a little grumpy at the event being called…

Hebe

Fri, 07 Mar 2014 13:44:33 +1300

Amazingly well put Isabel. I send aroha to you and yours. I can't begin to imagine the horror of the house flooding. Today we've discovered our old garage/shed/storeroom went under: halfway through a dung-out with rain forecast for tomorrow, and nowhere to store and dry out what's left , I…

Raymond A Francis

Fri, 07 Mar 2014 12:58:43 +1300

It all sounds just to awful Isabel I cannot imagine how you have stuck it out

I do get a little grumpy at the event being called a 100 year event as if that can't be planned for when in reality it a one in 5 event
A pity the…

David Haywood

Fri, 07 Mar 2014 12:35:38 +1300

So sorry to hear all this, Isabel. It must be absolutely awful having to deal with these problems on top of the earthquakes and the resulting earthquake issues. If there's anything I can do (engineer's second opinion, etc.) then please let me know. We're thinking of you in Dunsandel.

Bronwyn Hayward

Fri, 07 Mar 2014 12:26:30 +1300

ps obviously we also have to rethink how we provide security for NZ citizens in a changing physical environment! Complex, connected environmental risks (like quakes, severe weather events in a changing climate etc) are exacerbated, by underlying economic and social changes. These economic & social changes also makes some people more…

Bronwyn Hayward

Fri, 07 Mar 2014 11:36:36 +1300

Thank you Isabel for putting words to the experiences of a community of New Zealand-that you can write like this, at a time like now is invaluable.

All around me here is a kind of quiet, exhausted suffering, I never expected to see in New Zealand-but then I never expected…

Public Address

Fri, 07 Mar 2014 11:36:36 +1300

Discussion from blog post.