A major milestone was reached last week on the Maitai Flood Mitigation Project with the section between Clouston Bridge and Hanby Park completed and the new walkway opened. It was good to celebrate with residents and councillors at a community barbecue.
We reflected on the history of major storms that caused flooding in 1970, 1986, 2011 and 2022. We acknowledged the work of our Council staff, led by Flood Protection Activity Engineer Toby Kay, consultants Tonkin + Taylor and contractors Fulton Hogan, Helliwell and Kūmānu. We also thanked residents for their tolerance of the disruption and noise during construction.
I became Mayor just seven weeks after the devastating flood in August 2022. It felt overwhelming with the scale of damage and the tens of millions in costs of repairs. The immediate priority was supporting people whose homes were flooded, getting infrastructure fixed and stabilising the dozens of landslides. The bulk of the repair work was finished by 2024. We then turned our attention to how we could make our city more resilient to future storms.
This flood mitigation work on the Maitai River is the most significant since the late 1980s. The first section was upgrading the Cleveland Terrace stormwater intake and installing additional flap valves on the culverts under the stopbank to prevent backflows during flood events. New timber flood walls have been built and the stopbank raised. The river channel is to be widened. The enhanced capacity of the river upstream of Clouston Bridge is now about 380 cumecs or 30% more than the 287 cumecs of the August 2022 event. There is still one section to complete with a precast concrete wall to be installed downstream of Clouston Bridge.
This work is costing $9 million. The good news for ratepayers is that we secured $5.4 million from the Government’s Regional Infrastructure Fund. This 60% support compares with 20% Government support we received for the last major flood protection project on Saxton Creek.
I encourage Nelsonians to take a spring stroll along the beautiful Maitai River walkway and check out how your rates are being spent. I’m confident you will conclude it is a wise investment and a job well done.
