Fearing the next big rain

Otago Daily Times

13-07-2025

The clouds gathered late last week, looming and lowering above Dunedin. The weather forecasters warned another spell of heavy rain was on the way.
That was the story last Friday, when people around the city began preparing in case the predicted fall brought the kind of flooding rain which often causes problems in South Dunedin.
For the residents of one stretch of Surrey St, in Caversham, the forecast of rain is cause for even greater concern than for others on the flat. That's because they have a history of being flooded out by water and sewage.
On Saturday, the residents' worst fears were once again realised when its wastewater system could no longer cope with the rain. Atrociously, human excrement was flowing out of a manhole and on to the street between Hillside Rd and South Rd.
Surrey Street Flood Action Group convener Lynne Newell disputed the Dunedin City Council's statement that it had taken measures before the bad weather to make sure the system was not overwhelmed. She pointed out residents were forced to go to the toilet in bowls and bags after their toilets stopped working.
The sewage in the street was coming from the hill suburbs, she said, and it happened every time there was significant rain.
The council had told her and neighbours for the past 20 years a fix was close at hand, but they were still waiting.
The response on Saturday from Dunedin Mayor Jules Radich was underwhelming, saying residents would be able to use their toilets once the rain eased. He also reiterated that something had been done, with non-return valves installed to ensure toilets did not fill up with wastewater during heavy rain.
In a recent submission on the South Dunedin Future Plan, the action group says being swamped with sewage is an appalling health risk and something the council has "a moral duty" to address immediately, within the next six to 12 months.
They say it is not due to climate change — "this problem has not started or worsened by rapid climate change onset" — but rather undersize pipes and stormwater system.
The residents want an apology from the city council for delaying flood prevention works after the June 2015 flood — which they say directly contributed to the floods last October. Expecting a neighbourhood to go through this kind of filthy experience every time a period of heavy and/or prolonged rain hits is grossly unfair.
The damage to residents' mental health and resilience, not to mention pride in their street and property values, is reprehensible.
This problem needs to be cleaned up now. No more excuses. Run it out of town
What could be more stupid than the current so-called "craze" of Run It Straight? A person holding a ball has to run directly at an opponent, who is sprinting towards them at full speed, and is not allowed to sidestep or avoid the predestined collision. Surprise, surprise, participants are getting badly injured, even killed.
A month ago, 19-year-old Ryan Satterthwaite from Palmerston North died from a severe head injury after a backyard tackle game with friends.
Two people taking part in a Run It "championship league" in Auckland last month were knocked out, with one having a seizure, and it was estimated one in every four participants were concussed.
The latest incident involved former Kiwis forward Kevin Proctor. The rugby league player was knocked unconscious at a tournament in Dubai over the weekend.
Surely we now know enough about the short- and long-term dangers of concussion and head injuries that those most influential should be condemning and stopping such madness.
Rugby players, coaches, administrators and sports doctors are far wiser these days about the repercussions of blows to the head.
Health experts and trauma clinicians are in no doubt Run It Straight needs to be banned. In the New Zealand Medical Journal , three specialists said its continued promotion was "medically indefensible and ethically unjustifiable".
They want councils, schools and clubs to ban events, sports stars to stop endorsing it, social media sites to remove content and public-health campaigners to outline the potentially terrible consequences.
Where are the intelligent role models among the All Blacks, the Black Ferns and the Warriors when it comes to telling people they're mugs to get involved in such a life-threatening activity?