Marlborough’s ‘Valley People’ rise up against the floodwaters

After years building their own “defences” against repeated flooding, Wairau Valley residents want better floodways carved out upstream of their homes.

Every time there’s heavy rain, muddy floodwaters gush down the hills and through their properties, on the way to the Wairau River. And there’s been quite a lot of heavy rain events in the last few years.

Residents have altered their properties to withstand the floodwaters, even digging trenches in their backyards to divert the water better. “I keep increasing the height of my defences in each event,” one resident said, at the Wairau Valley Peace Memorial Hall last month.

About 20 people had gathered in the hall to come up with a plan, led by the Wairau Valley Ratepayers and Residents Association, or the “Valley People”.

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Sharing their personal experiences with weather events in recent years, attendees said they noticed floodwaters were coming at rising levels, on their properties and though the township, due to a lack of drainage.

“There’s just nowhere for the water to go,” one attendee said.

Co-chair Mike Nesbit told attendees the association had received information from the Marlborough District Council about the cost of restoring the area’s flood protection framework.

The council had $6000 a year budgeted for “minor water course issues west of the Waihopai (river)”, which meant virtually the entire Wairau Valley area, Nesbit said.

The figure provided by the council to get Andersons Floodway, located 5km west of the township, “back up to scratch” was $2 million, Nesbit said, “so there is no funding available currently”.

The council had applied to central government for funding for the work, and was awaiting a decision on the application, the association was told.

Some members said the development of vineyards had also changed the natural waterways upstream of the township, worsening the amount of floodwaters funnelled through their homes.

“You can’t stop development, but at the moment, whatever is happening is pushing more and more water straight to the village,” co-chair Dennis McAulay said.

“And people on the southern side of [State Highway 63] are suddenly getting inundated around their houses.”

Following their discussion in the memorial hall, the “Valley People” agreed to hold another meeting. They hoped to invite representatives from Marlborough District Council and Waka Kotahi to negotiate, which Nesbit said could result in a potential change in the residents’ rates.

“What may come of [the next meeting] is an increased rating for you, we’ve all got to be aware of that,” Nesbit told the members, who were silent on the prospect of increased rates.

Speaking after the meeting, as the chairs were packed away, McAulay said to have the members agree on a common goal was “the most encouraging thing”.

“We need to get some pragmatic and simple solutions,” he said.

“Anderson’s Floodway is neglected … We won’t have an Esk Valley type-flood, but what we are trying to do is just repair and maintain what’s already out there.”