The July 22-25 floods saw up to 192mm of rain fall on parts of the Selwyn District in seven days, most of which was in the three-day period.
Over that weekend the Selwyn District Council received more than 300 calls for help.
During a district council emergency management update last week, Mayor Sam Broughton criticised ECan for not having flow meters in the waterways feeding the Selwyn River, including the Hororata, Hawkins and Waianiwaniwa rivers.
The district council has been asking for the meters to be put in for a number of years.
ECan rivers manager David Aires said it was aware of the district council’s concerns.
Aires said ECan was also aware the district council wants more flow gauges and is “actively working on this”.
District council head of emergency management Al Lawn said it has raised the need for more gauges with ECan at “an operational level” and so has Broughton.
Lawn said his team need as much data as possible to make decisions on how they respond to weather emergencies.
“I don’t think we should do ECan’s job . . . I still think there’s still a conversation to be had both at a governance level and a management level around making sure we have enough telemetry.”
District council acting group manager infrastructure and property Murray England agreed the ability to record data from rural rivers is lacking.
Ellesmere Ward district councillor Shane Epiha was out with the emergency response teams during the flooding.
He said the situation was “absolutely ridiculous”.
“The rural community is living with the increased anxiety of these events.”
The district council’s concerns come as frustration continues to grow among people affected by flooding in Selwyn.
Earlier this month, Ladbrooks residents Anna and Josh Pedersen, who have seen their home flooded out two years in a row, told the Selwyn Times they blame ECan for not listening to their concerns.
For the past two winters, the family have been forced off their property due to water going back up their drains from the Halswell River.
ECan met with the family this month to discuss potential solutions and property owner Josh Pedersen said the meeting was productive.
Pedersen was told a potential solution would be to add a floodgate to stop water going back up the drains. During the July flooding, the worst-hit areas were on the eastern side of State Highway 1 with
Coes and Chamberlains fords bearing the brunt of the water from higher parts of the district.
ECan only has one flow gauge on the Hawkins River at Dalethorpe Rd which was installed following the 2021 floods
Currently there three gauges on the Selwyn River located at Whitecliffs, Ridgens Rd and Coes Ford.
In the next year, ECan will also be installing a monitoring site on the Selwyn River at the SH1 but none are planned for the feeding rivers.
“We maintain ongoing communication with district council staff, particularly in the civil defence team during a flood event and are committed to jointly providing the best information we can to our communities both now and in the future,” Aires said.
The district council will receive a briefing from ECan on August 30 to discuss the flooding and other topics including public transport as ECan begins work on its next Long Term Plan.
