State of emergency declared - Wellington floods and landslips

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gzt

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#324518 20-Apr-2026 16:02

"State of emergency declared after flash flooding hits Wellington, more severe weather expected"

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/weather-live-updates-flash-flooding-hits-wellington-more-severe-weather-expected/EC3Y2LD4QRC6HLMIS7KLTC5XIU/

Keep safe. Don't take any chances with land movement.

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#3482589 20-Apr-2026 16:54

Horrendous amount of damage everywhere. places that were never a problem suddenly deluged.

That rain is persisting down and a real concern with sodden ground that can give way. My leaking windows are the least of my worries, we live on a hillside and I can see the water is just not draining away fast enough and pooling.

Dentist got flooded, waited all weekend for it to open and get an appointment, now unlikely while cleanup is happening. Toothache relegated to the it can wait list.

cddt

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#3482590 20-Apr-2026 17:03

According to MetService, Wellington Central has had about 60mm of rain today. But there must be local areas which had much more to cause so much flooding and damage?

wellygary

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#3482591 20-Apr-2026 17:09

cddt:

According to MetService, Wellington Central has had about 60mm of rain today. But there must be local areas which had much more to cause so much flooding and damage?

Yeah, there was some very localised heavy rain around 5am ,

The Regional council weather station in Berhampore recorded 77mm between 4-5am then another 18mm until 6am

https://graphs.gw.govt.nz/envmon/daily-climate-maps?view=rainfall-table

most of the flooding drained away reasonably quickly - But the damage was done,
https://www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/360967368/wellington-man-awoken-flooding-describes-worst-rain-he-has-seen-city

Also compounded by High tide being at 7am this morning, so outflows to sea would have been restricted and impacted by an incoming tide,

gzt

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#3482594 20-Apr-2026 17:21

cddt: According to MetService, Wellington Central has had about 60mm of rain today. But there must be local areas which had much more to cause so much flooding and damage?

The link in first post shows "Severe thunderstorm warning for Carterton and Masterton" 3:30pm to 4:30pm. Looks like there is a lot going on sometimes very localized weather warnings.

timmmay

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#3482597 20-Apr-2026 17:33

Some schools are closed Tuesday. My wife says there's stuff everywhere on the roads in the northern suburbs.

MaxineN

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#3482598 20-Apr-2026 17:37

Be safe everyone.

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#3482689 21-Apr-2026 10:02

It was a good day to be in a 'compact' apartment, well above ground level.

Mike

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#3482695 21-Apr-2026 10:25

We have a lake at our place. First time ever.

Here is a crazy notion, lets give peace a chance.

MikeB4

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#3482697 21-Apr-2026 10:30

MikeAqua:

It was a good day to be in a 'compact' apartment, well above ground level.

We are considering buying an apartment. my only concern is evacuation in a fire alarm. Maybe an Ark might be better

Here is a crazy notion, lets give peace a chance.

Rickles

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#3482727 21-Apr-2026 12:05

I lived in Island Bay for some 9 years as a kid, and the recent flooding in Derwent Street was a complete surprise to me.

MikeAqua

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#3482778 21-Apr-2026 14:04

MikeB4:

We are considering buying an apartment. my only concern is evacuation in a fire alarm. Maybe an Ark might be better

Apartments building and arks have the same problem - some of the residents are animals.

It's been a while since I was on the body corporate committee but ... in our building there is/was a list of residents with mobility limitations, who will need assistance to evacuate - including which apartment they are in. They wait in their apartment or in their floor's lobby (depending on mobility) to await rescue. Every apartment is a sealed fire cell and there are sprinklers on the access ways and in the lobbies. Of course there is also the help of neighbours.

False alarms are a PITA. Always late at night, or when I'm in the shower. We had one at 1am during COVID. Wife and I had not long recovered from COVID. We shuffled down 11 flights of stairs and stood in the dark and cold for 20 minutes. An hour after we were back inside, the alarm went off again. The second time I just stayed inside.

Mike

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Eva888

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#3482782 21-Apr-2026 14:32

Both Island Bay shops and Newtown shops flooded. We used to have one of the best wide boulevards in Wellington for years, wide enough for cycles, busses and cars, until Council decided to wreck it and make cycle lanes and a narrow road with extended footpaths in the shopping area. They changed it about four times adding more seal on to the road each time which raised it causing a hump in the middle of the road so now the water from the hump rolls down into the shops unimpeded by any decent drains.

The 'improvements' to the shopping area without enough drainage means the brand new refurbished shops are filling with water even on a mildly rainy day. One poor chap just started his new business and all the fittings and carpets ruined many times. All this means Insurance goes up for all of us, thank you Council. Climate change my foot. Bad design even a toddler with Lego could improve upon.

In my lifetime I have never seen a flood at the hospital. Now in front of it the Council built an extended footpath/bus stop, with a cycle lane that commuters need to stand on while boarding a bus and become instant targets for the scooters and cyclists whizzing at them. These new extended footpaths don’t have adequate drainage either. Oh dear blame climate change again, never blame the blocked unmaintained drains, or new 'improvements' with runoff calculated incorrectly for sufficient drainage to incorporate all the new flats going up everywhere and new footpaths over old drains..

Most countries have a cleaning maintenance programme especially in late Autumn because of falling leaves, not our Wellington Council. The only time they clean drains is if Karen calls them to report a blocked drain flooding and she’s screeched loud enough.

I’ve got plastic bottles and rubbish in a badly installed drain in the gutter front of house, where if you happen to stand getting out of a car, your entire leg will go down the huge gap into it. You’d definitely lose a small unleashed dog there or snap a kids leg. Reported umpteen times, no one fixes it. Large items get blown into it blocking a major storm water drain. If it floods…it’s that pesky climate change again and up goes insurance for the entire street.

Councils do your job properly with timely, coordinated maintenance and designs fit for purpose.

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#3482785 21-Apr-2026 14:44

Eva888:

Councils do your job properly with timely, coordinated maintenance and designs fit for purpose.

Councils are about to transfer pretty much all of their stormwater responsibilities this to the new water companies,
expect it to only get worse.

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#3482787 21-Apr-2026 14:55

Eva888:

They changed it about four times adding more seal on to the road each time which raised it causing a hump in the middle of the road so now the water from the hump rolls down into the shops unimpeded by any decent drains.

Most countries have a cleaning maintenance programme especially in late Autumn because of falling leaves, not our Wellington Council. The only time they clean drains is if Karen calls them to report a blocked drain flooding and she’s screeched loud enough.

But that is mainly due to allegedly bad drainage design as well as lack of maintenance. I have heard of another council trying to get rid of canopy trees on their streets, with one reason being that leaves block the drains. But that solely occurs due to lack of maintenance by council. Councils are really the problem, and they tend to subcontract things out to third party contractor these days.

KiwiSurfer

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#3482789 21-Apr-2026 14:57

Eva888:

Both Island Bay shops and Newtown shops flooded. We used to have one of the best wide boulevards in Wellington for years, wide enough for cycles, busses and cars, until Council decided to wreck it and make cycle lanes and a narrow road with extended footpaths in the shopping area. They changed it about four times adding more seal on to the road each time which raised it causing a hump in the middle of the road so now the water from the hump rolls down into the shops unimpeded by any decent drains.

The 'improvements' to the shopping area without enough drainage means the brand new refurbished shops are filling with water even on a mildly rainy day. One poor chap just started his new business and all the fittings and carpets ruined many times. All this means Insurance goes up for all of us, thank you Council. Climate change my foot. Bad design even a toddler with Lego could improve upon.

In my lifetime I have never seen a flood at the hospital. Now in front of it the Council built an extended footpath/bus stop, with a cycle lane that commuters need to stand on while boarding a bus and become instant targets for the scooters and cyclists whizzing at them. These new extended footpaths don’t have adequate drainage either. Oh dear blame climate change again, never blame the blocked unmaintained drains, or new 'improvements' with runoff calculated incorrectly for sufficient drainage to incorporate all the new flats going up everywhere and new footpaths over old drains..

Having been travelling around Wellington recently doign some cellmapping, I know the areas you refer to. We have similar street layours in Auckland in several areas and no issues there. I suspect in the wider scheme of things the road design you speak of is not the main contributor to the issues. Perhaps drainage could be improved but the amount of rain I saw on the news last night I'm not sure how much capacity would have been needed in Wellington's stormwater network to cope with that much water -- and we all know how badly underinvested Wellington Water is after years of 'free water included in your rates' type policies which has failed to ensure water infrastructure is fit for today's Wellington. Don't target the useful bus stops and cycle lanes -- they are not the source of the issue IMHO and an unncessary scapegoat.

I do agree though with drain cleaning. Not sure if "most countries" do a good job through. That type of service requires councils with enough rates income to afford that service. NZ's obsession with lower rates has seen that type of thng cut to appease people wanting lower rates.

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