Media release

Rivers rising in parts of Otago

Sunday 22 January 2017

Staff from Otago Regional Council continue to monitor rivers throughout the region after heavy and sustained rainfall in Otago.

Although the rain is expected to ease through the night, people are advised to keep up to date with the latest weather forecast and river levels, particularly in the Kakanui and Pomahaka catchments where some rivers are very high and rising.

People on the Taieri catchment are also advised to keep up to date with river levels as they are expected to rise later during the night.

The groundwater levels in South Dunedin have started to rise slowly but it is not expected this will cause widespread surface ponding. Dunedin streams has also been rising but remain below warning levels.

As well as monitoring river levels, regional council staff have also been out checking pump stations over the weekend to ensure they are operating as expected.

Otago Regional Council has a 24 hour duty flood manager monitoring river and lake levels. Information on river and lake levels is also available on ORC’s Waterinfo website http://water.orc.govt.nz/ or through the Flow phone on 0800 426 463, or via Twitter alerts.

Jean-Luc Payan
Duty Flood Manager
Otago Regional Council