Flood-protection works on the lower section of Wanaka's flood-prone Stoney Creek have been completed.
The bridge culvert and entranceway to Meadowstone suburb was identified as a potential flood hazard by Otago Regional Council (ORC) staff and the entranceway has been altered to accommodate increased water flows in Stoney Creek during floods.
ORC environmental engineering and hazards director Dr Gavin Palmer said a stopbank and landscape alterations had been made to the Stoney Creek reserve as part of the scheme.
The works are part of a flood-protection scheme jointly funded by the ORC, the Queenstown Lakes District Council and Meadowstone property development company Willowridge.
The ORC wants to complete a schedule of flood-protection works - drawn up in 2005 - to mitigate flooding effects.
Several Wanaka properties downstream from Stoney Creek were inundated during times of heavy rain and flooding in 1999 and 2003.
Work is still needed on an upper section of Stoney Creek on private land owned by Hawthenden Trust beneficiaries Owen and Eric Hopgood.
The Otago Regional Council was committed to completing the remaining mitigation works on that upper section of Stoney Creek, Dr Palmer said yesterday.
