Gardens reopen

The Oamaru Public Gardens were closed on Wednesday afternoon as strong northwesterly winds hit the North Otago town.

''In those sort of conditions it [was] causing a lot of sway on the trees,'' Waitaki District Council recreation manager Erik van der Spek said.

The gardens was a highly used area, especially the children's playground in the school holidays.

''So, just as a proactive measure, to manage risk, we decided to close down access to the gardens [at 2pm],'' Mr van der Spek said.

The gardens re-opened yesterday morning.

Council contractors were still getting around all of the council-owned parks to assess damage yesterday, but early indications were positive.

''As far as our parks go, we got off very lightly, both with the Sunday weather events and also [Wednesday],'' he said.

Add a Comment