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A second flood in Middlemarch in two years has prompted residents to call for urgent action.
“There has to be a solution,” Norma Emerson, owner of Tap & Dough Bistro on Snow Ave. said yesterday.
“Something should now … have been done,” Mrs. Emerson said.
He did not know of a specific remedy, but he knew that the situation was “totally unacceptable,” he said.
Her husband, Emerson Brewery founder Richard Emerson, said yesterday that Middlemarch could be rebranded “Muddlemarch” after all the unsightly mud left by the flooding Saturday night.
Mrs. Emerson, who runs the bistro with her husband, said the business was insured, but this flooding, after the November 2018 floods, disrupted the business in the peak summer season.
A blast of heavy rain and hail at around 2:30 pm yesterday flooded several of the buildings that had already been partially cleaned.
Strath Taieri Community Board Chairman Barry Williams said it was “hugely disappointing” that two major floods had occurred in about two years and that more action was needed.
“I am very disappointed and disappointed,” he said yesterday.
A Dunedin City Council spokesman said power to Middlemarch – initially cut off by lightning at 2.30pm – was restored around 5pm and that it was safe for residents to resume flushing the toilets.
Middlemarch residents were advised not to drink borehole water unless it was treated with a filter, and there was a tanker truck in the Strath Taieri Community Hall for anyone who wanted clean drinking water, the spokesperson said.
Ms Emerson said the old train owned by Dunedin City Council no longer served Middlemarch, and the adverse effects of the flooding added to the earlier loss of the tourist business.
More planning and resources must be devoted to overcoming the adverse economic effects of the floods, he said.
Observers said the water level on Snow Ave had risen much faster Saturday night than when the bistro flooded in November 2018.
Heath Frew, a Middlemarch contract worker, helped clean up a friend’s previously flooded house on Banks Ave.
DCC and the Otago Regional Council may have already taken some action, but more action is clearly needed to prevent further flooding, given that the Bank Ave home had already been affected by the 2018 floods, he said.
The water flowed onto Bank Ave via a side street off Middlemarch’s main street, State Highway 87, but improved drainage was needed because the water “had nowhere to go” and just piled up.
Shebikeshebikes bicycle rental company co-owner Steve Goodlass of Omakau said it was “devastating” that the company’s warehouse on Snow Ave Middlemarch flooded twice during the peak summer weekend.
He was also “really concerned” that not enough flood control support was being provided to the municipality.
