But businesses were still mopping up yesterday, after Monday’s storm delivered thunder, lightning, hail and 13.6mm of rain in a short, sharp burst from 3.30pm.
The Fire Service also attended 45 callouts, but the Insurance Council of New Zealand had no information about any insurance claims yesterday.
Mr Saunders said the network appeared to cope well with the "very intense" rain, despite trouble hotspots in some areas, including George St, where surface flooding damaged some businesses, and in South Dunedin, where flooding occurred again Forbury Rd and Surrey St.
Mr Saunders said the intensity of the rain, and not the inadequacy of the city’s stormwater network, was to blame.
"On the whole, we are pleased with how the infrastructure coped ... generally, the water did clear relatively quickly."
Ongoing work to clean the city’s 8000 mud-tanks — which was about halfway through — had helped, as had the efforts of the council’s contractor, Downer, before, during and after the storm, he said.
Dunedin Mayor Dave Cull said the system had coped well in the circumstances.
Dunedin South Labour MP Clare Curran said the downpour had been "quite frightening" but the stormwater system’s performance was "really heartening".
"I think what that tells you is maintaining the system has been a really big improvement," she said.
Otago Chamber of Commerce chief executive Dougal McGowan agreed, but said some businesses had still faced "significant disruption".
That included seafood restaurant The Reef, where staff and tradesmen worked to reopen the George St business in time for last night’s Valentine’s Day dinner service.
Floodwater leaked through the restaurant’s roof, walls and light fittings and cascaded down a flight of stairs, owner Oanh Tieu said.
"Water was everywhere."
After the storm, power to the building was switched off, but a neighbouring business ran a power cord across to run pumps and keep the restaurant’s fish alive.
Monday’s dinner bookings were cancelled as the restaurant was closed, and sodden walls were "wobbling" yesterday as work to reopen the restaurant continued.
A Noel Leeming spokeswoman said the company’s George St store was closed yesterday due to flooding.
Radicool Kids Flagship co-owner Emily Boniface was also cleaning up, and dumping stock, after the roof of the Albion Pl children’s clothing shop caved in, covering the floor in 10cm of floodwater.
The neighbouring florist, Bunches & Bows, helped move stock from the flooded shop yesterday and nearby shop Void Clothing took a rack of clothes to sell on Mrs Boniface’s behalf.
Builders were fixing the Radicool shop yesterday and she hoped to open today.
The Dunedin Urgent Doctors and Accident Centre was also badly affected, and remained closed yesterday, but planned to reopen at noon today, practice manager Martin Chamberlain said.
Patients were being redirected to other GPs or the Dunedin Hospital emergency department, which was "very busy" on Monday, with 140 patients, clinical leader Dr John Chambers said.
That included more minor presentations than usual, because of the temporary closure of the urgent doctors, but was also because of Monday’s "very serious motor vehicle accident" near Queenstown.
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Funny how we never quite get the full truth from DCC. Last year it was said the previous contractor were doing okay with drain maintenance. Now we are told all 8000 sumps need to be cleaned and DCC are half way through the program. I'm a long way from a drainage expert, but I would have thought each sump would need to be cleaned at least annually, some more often depending upon silt runoff etc.
So whats the real story? Did the old contract require sump clearing only when they over flowed? Does the new contract include regular cleaning or just this one off program?
And DCC may think the downpour drained well, those businesses that were inundated from street runoff probably don't share that opinion.