Waihī Beach should see progress on $19m of stormwater infrastructure after flash flooding in May caused the council to heed the community’s concerns.

On May 29 heavy rain and thunderstorms lashed the coastal town causing flash flooding and the dam to overflow.

Water rushed through the northern end of the town, filling up creeks, spilling over roads, flooding homes and the holiday park.

Twenty seven people were forced to evacuate, including two families at the holiday park and 11 elderly residents from the council owned pensioner housing on Beach Road.

It was the second large scale flood since 2012. The Western Bay of Plenty District Council was under fire after some community members felt it could have been avoided and called for more maintenance of the stormwater drains and creeks.

A list of projects was approved by the council’s Projects and Monitoring Committee yesterday.

The 25 projects included improvements to the dam and Darley drain outlet that services the low lying area of Marine and Walnut Avenue, where the flood waters reached 1.2 -1.5 metres on May 29.

Others were raising gully traps in low lying areas, adding pump stations and looking at retaining stormwater in upper catchments.

A budget of $19,674m has been allocated for Waihī Beach stormwater infrastructure in the council’s 2021-2031 long term plan.

The project list was put together by a community liaison group, formed in response to the flood. Council staff, the Waihī Beach Community Board, representatives from local hapū Te Whānau ā Tauwhao and members of the Stormwater Action Team (SWAT) make up the group.

Sue Hope said work on the dam needed to be done immediately because there is a "real threat to life" if it overflows. Photo: John Borren/SunLive.

SWAT formed in 2013 in response to the first flood. Member Sue Hope told the meeting the liaison group had worked “very positively” towards solutions around increased maintenance and upgrading the stormwater system.

She said SWAT felt the work on the dam needed be “addressed immediately because there is a real threat to life with that dam overtopping”.

Fellow SWAT member Rob Hope said this included removing 20-30 years of silt build up which he believed reduced the dam’s capacity, and clearing the vegetation from in front of the spillway.

“We don't ever want to see the dam overflow again.”

He was “encouraged” by the progress made by the liaison group so far. “We're making headway amazingly quickly in comparison to the last 10 years.

Projects approved and considered an “immediate solution” were a drone survey of the dam to check silt and debris levels and cleaning it out.

Waihī Beach Community Board chairman Ross Goudie said the issues that caused flooding at the pensioner flats needed to be “looked at with urgency” because some units had flooded three times.

Goudie previously told Local Democracy Reporting, had the floods happened at night “we may have lost somebody in the [pensioner] flats”.

The council had plans to repair the four higher units without raising the floor level. Goudie told the meeting, in his opinion: “They [they pensioners] won't want to go back in there if there’s any thought of floods.”

Water rose to window height in the front seven pensioner units on Beach Road. Photo: Susan Lean/Supplied.

Waihī Beach stormwater project leader James Abraham said parts of the town had been built on swamp land and it was considered a “short, steep catchment” which meant there wasn’t a lot of room for water to be absorbed into the ground.

“What that means is when you get a lot of rainfall, all the rain runs off the land and gets to the low point all at the same time.”

Abraham said they had carried out flood hazard risk assessments at the holiday park, pensioner flats and the campground at Leo St.

“Those were assessed by Tonkin and Taylor to essentially look at the flood risk and hazard to life, as well as buildings and vehicles in the area.”

He said they had also started a maintenance programme of clearing open drains and catch pits.

Katikati/Waihī Beach ward councillor Anne Henry said: “We just need to just progress as we are doing now, proactively.

“This area is, as we described, it's never going to change it, the water can't get away faster. So we've got to put the infrastructure in that's going to look after what's there.”

Councillor Allan Sole said the stormwater issues at Waihī Beach had been a "bug bear" for him for 12 years. Photo: John Borren/SunLive.

 Councillor Allan Sole, who also represents the Katikati/Waihī Beach ward said: “I believe that we are seeing some real action from the council now on this matter, which has been a bug bear for me for 12 years.

“I want to see most of this work largely being worked on concurrently as best we can. So as we get through it, we actually do improve the outcome for the whole community.

Speaking after the meeting, Goudie said he was “very pleased” with the result.

“Now we’ve got to turn words into action and get on with it.”

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