Fishing waders and knee-high gumboots have become daily attire for a Manawatū property owner who is fed up with constant flooding limiting access to her home and drowning her property.
After years of struggling to get someone to take responsibility for an inadequate culvert outside her property on No 1 line, Longburn homeowner Julie Cunninghame said she was now “at the end of her tether”.
The culvert was so insufficient that water was being rerouted onto her yard, causing it to constantly flood.
Stuff visited the property on Wednesday and Cunninghame said it was the fourth time in less than two weeks her property had ended up underwater.
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After her property’s fourth flooding in under two weeks, Julie Cunninghame says she has had enough of council’s passing the buck.
Cunninghame, who had lived at the home for more than two decades, said she had spent many years asking local authorities to replace the drain with one that was able to handle major rain events.
She said her frustration had reached boiling point as she had been given the runaround, with “the buck” being passed between the Palmerston North City Council, Manawatū District Council, Horizons Regional Council and contractors Fulton Hogan.
“I think the trouble began when our property, which used to be under the Manawatū District Council, was rezoned and my side of the road was put under the Palmerston North City Council.
“This has been going on for years, and each one just keeps passing the buck. I’m fed up.”
Storm and floodwater flowing from Palmerston North to Foxton via a drain that ran along No 1 line was backing up at the city-end of the culvert, while little water was getting through at the Foxton end.
DAVID UNWIN/Stuff
Julie Cunninghame has spent years chasing up the council to replace an inadequate drain that runs adjacent to her property, so water will stop being redirected into her home every time there are heavy rains.
She said in the 25 years she had lived there the drain had only been cleared once, after she again kicked up a fuss.
“They must have taken 15 to 20 truckloads away, filled with rubbish, white ware, lawn clippings, you name it, but it still didn’t fix the problem.”
Cunninghame said PNCC engineers visited last year and confirmed the culvert pipe was not big enough to cater for the increase in water and a new, larger pipe would need to be installed.
“I was told Fulton Hogan would get the work done before Christmas last year, but nothing ever happened.
“When I called them [Fulton Hogan], they said the job was logged in their job list, but they were still awaiting the green light from council to go ahead with the work.”
DAVID UNWIN/Stuff
Despite Julie Cunninghame redirecting water away from her home, continuous rain has made it impossible to drain the flooded property.
Cunninghame’s property was unlikely to get any reprieve soon with more rain forecast for the next 10 days.
“When you call (PNCC) they tell you they will call back, but they never do.
“When that failed, I started going into the office, but it got to the point where I could hear the staff saying, ‘here she is again’ and rolling their eyes.
“I shouldn’t have to keep nagging at them, it should never have got to this in the first place.”
A media spokesperson for the Manawatū District Council said it was only informed of the issues at the property concerned in the past week.
“We’ll work alongside PNCC on a solution to the issues that have been identified.”
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