A Historic Village volunteer wants the Tauranga City Council to remove the debris from the drains around the village following flooding in the area on New Year's Eve.

Ted Santi, one of the members of the Men's Shed, is disappointed by the state of the stormwater system and flood prevention measures at the village.

Ted Santi outside the Men's Shed which flooded during the New Year holiday.

Ted says the shed flooded, with water half a metre up the walls – ruining thousands of dollars of equipment.

'We lost thousands of dollars worth of gear and materials. It's just heartbreaking for myself, and the other guys who put in all the hours down there.”

In addition to running the Men's Shed, Ted also volunteers with Turning Point and has been involved in activities at the Historic Village since 2004.

He says in his time working at the village the centre has flooded five or six times.

Ted believes the centre is continuing to flood because the drains are not cleaned on a regular basis and are continuing to be clogged with debris.

'If the council doesn't do the maintenance and keep the drains clear, this is just going to keep happening.

'The debris is being pulled out and just left on the side of the bank – any build up of water and it is going to go back into the drain.

'You don't put in an expensive system like a floodgate and not do any maintenance on it.”

A backflow gate was installed on the right side of the village at the bottom of 17th Avenue 18 months ago to stop water flowing into the drains that service the village.

Tauranga City Council property services manager Anthony Averill says the cause of flooding on New Year's Day was due to a piece of wood that had been wedged in the floodgate, stopping the gate from closing.

'At the end of the pipe there is a flap on it where the water comes up against it, it closes.

'A piece of wood has left it open, and the water could get through the gate.”

Anthony says there has been flooding in the area prior to building the stormwater bund, and this is one of the reasons it was installed.

'It has been working very well. We have heavier rain than previously and it has been working well on those occasions.”

TCC drainage services manager Graeme Donht says the flooding on December 31 has nothing to do with the drains themselves and believes the piece of wood discovered in the drain was purposely put there.

The piece of wood was removed from the site following the flood on Sunday, January 1, but was discovered again wedged in the floodgate on Friday, January 6 and on Sunday, January 8.

'It's either through ignorance or maliciousness,” says Graeme.

'There are some people in the area who believe eels cannot travel through the floodgate and they do not realise the gate does allow fish to go through.

'Others think they need to jam the floodgate open to allow the water out and they don't realise it also lets the water in.”

He says the drains are cleaned on an annual basis and the debris is left on the side of the bank to dry out before being removed by a Bobcat.

'Whether it is weed or something else is irrelevant – the flooding is being caused by the critical floodgate being wedged open.”

When the area experienced heavy rain in January and March 2011, Graeme says the stormwater system worked perfectly.

'The rain on these occasions was 400mm higher than the last occasion and not a drop got into the village.

'We have never had a problem with the floodgate apart from this one occasion.”

Graeme says steps are now being taken to ensure the floodgate operates properly.

This includes the installation of an early warning sensor to measure the level of water in the system.

Signs are also being erected next to the floodgates explaining their purpose.

'The area has been added to the list of systems to investigate when a heavy rain warning is issued.”