Latest news with #OtagoRegionalCouncil
Otago Daily Times
10 hours ago
- Climate
- Otago Daily Times
Second night of Midwinter Carnival cancelled
A glowing dragon exhales a smoke cloud over visitors eagerly waiting to be let into the Dunedin Midwinter Carnival at First Church on Friday night. PHOTO: GERARD O'BRIEN Organisers of the Dunedin Midwinter Carnival have had to cancel the second night of the event due to bad weather. The theme of the festival this year is Wings of Wonder and First Church was transformed into a glowing display of everything fantastical and winged on Friday night. New Zealand native birds, mythical creatures soaring in the sky and small critters including the classic butterfly were featured. Coastal Dunedin bore the brunt of heavy rain overnight on Friday - approximately 25-50mm, the Otago Regional Council said, and a further 20-30mm was forecast for Saturday. A spokesman for Midwinter Carnival said it was a difficult decision to cancel, especially after the ''magic and joy'' of last night, but the safety and wellbeing of the audience, performers and crew had to come first. Ticket refunds were not available because the event was called of due to extreme weather. ''As a not-for-profit charitable trust, the Midwinter Carnival must still meet the full cost of delivering the event, including infrastructure, staffing, artist fees and materials.'' Despite not being able to put on a second night, the Midwinter Carnival was proud of the event it delivered on night one. ''We're proud of what was achieved and so grateful for the magic we did get to share together.'' - APL
Otago Daily Times
11 hours ago
- Climate
- Otago Daily Times
Networks 'coped well' with downpour
Dunedin and Otago regional councils say networks have withstood heavy rain, but advise people to stay safe amid more warnings of continued wet weather and snow. Snow-hit highways in South reopen DCC road closures Coastal Dunedin bore the brunt of the rain overnight - approximately 25-50mm, with other parts of Otago getting 20-50mm, the Otago Regional Council said in a statement early on Saturday afternoon. "Flood infrastructure is doing its job and performing as expected. There were no significant issues overnight." Rainfall has eased in North Otago but Dunedin could see a further 20-30mm and 30-40mm for Clutha until about 9pm on Saturday. A MetService orange rain warning remains in place for Dunedin and Clutha. The forecaster said streams and rivers could rise rapidly, and surface flooding, slips and difficult driving conditions were possible. Scott MacLean, the Dunedin City Council's general manager of climate and city growth, said this morning the network had "coped well" with heavy rain. 'Contractors responded to isolated incidents of ponding overnight. Our teams are inspecting the network for damage and flooding, and there are some temporary road closures in place. Up-to-date advice on road closures can be found on our website. 'With the exception of the Logan Park artificial turfs, all council grounds are closed to the public today. Staff and contractors will continue to monitor the network over the weekend.' Athletics Otago's Edmond Cup Cross Country event on Saturday has been cancelled. The city-bound lane of Shore St and a section of Portobello Rd, between Andersons Bay Rd and Portsmouth Dr, have been closed due to flooding. Old Brighton Rd and Aramoana Rd, near Deborah Bay, are also closed, the DCC's website showed. A low off the South Island east coast was expected to bring heavy rain to the lower South Island and snow to inland parts of Otago and Southland today, MetService advised this morning. A heavy snow watch was in place for Central Otago, Southland north of Lumsden, also inland Dunedin and Clutha from 9am until 7pm on Saturday. Periods of heavy snow were expected above 400 metres, where snowfall amounts may approach warning criteria. A heavy rain watch was in place for Southland about and east of Mossburn from 9am until 3pm on Saturday. Periods of heavy rain were expected and amounts may approach warning criteria. MetService meteorologist Lewis Ferris said a deep, complex low would move across the upper South Island from the west, directing a strong cold southwest flow across the southern regions. Once the low-pressure system had passed over to the east side of the country, easterly winds would then push it back towards the Otago coastline. "That rain coming across the country swirls around and makes landfall again near Dunedin and North Otago. It's kind of like a spinning top." DCC chief executive Sandy Graham said yesterday while the city's network was expected to cope with the downpour, staff and contractors were in a state of readiness. "At this stage the Dunedin Civil Defence bunker is not activating, and we expect our network will cope with the forecast rain, but we'll continue to monitor the situation and make further announcements as needed." ORC keeping close eye The Otago Regional Council is closely monitoring the weather, streams and rivers 24/7 over the weekend. Flood duty officer Ann Conroy said on Saturday afternoon river levels were rising but had not yet peaked in North Otago, and the Dunedin and Clutha area. "Flood infrastructure is doing its job and performing as expected. There were no significant issues overnight and surface flooding and ponding are likely in lower-lying areas. "We are ready to respond to any issues that arise will continue to closely monitor river levels. "Rivers are rising and we'll be keeping a close eye on the low-lying areas which could potentially be affected, including parts of the Tokomairaro floodplain such as Milton, the Lower Taieri floodplain including Henley, the Lower Clutha floodplain and Middlemarch." Staff and contractors would be in the field checking floodbank and drainage assets and pumping stations. The Water of Leith and Lindsay Creek in Dunedin were not expected to overtop their banks, the ORC said. The Silver Stream near Mosgiel was expected to peak at about 90-100 cumecs on Saturday afternoon. The Taieri River at Outram was expected to peak on Saturday evening at about 400-600 cumecs. Flooding of the unprotected areas downstream of Outram was likely. The Clutha River at Balclutha was expected to peak at around 1900 cumecs on Sunday morning. Flooding was likely in low-lying areas adjacent to the river upstream of Balclutha, and unprotected areas downstream of the township on the Clutha delta. 'At this stage, we do not expect widespread issues from the rain, but conditions can change and we will monitor closely. Communities in affected areas should stay up to date with conditions. Should the situation worsen, we are ready to act.' In South Otago, contractors for the district council have been monitoring river levels in Clutha since the early hours of Saturday morning. There were numerous areas of surface flooding affecting roads in the district. Karoro Creek Rd, Young Rd/Lake Rd (Berwick) and Allison Rd were closed, a council spokeswoman said. "The creeks and streams are full around West Otago which we will continue to monitor." Contractors were assessing the network on Saturday afternoon, visiting Milton, Kaka Point, Tuapeka Mouth and Lawrence. "At this stage we are placing signs on the worst areas of flooding but as conditions can change quite quickly over such a large network there will be locations that worsen before we get to them," she said. "As always, road users need to drive to the conditions and avoid driving through areas of flooding due to the risk of hidden hazards." - APL
Otago Daily Times
20 hours ago
- Automotive
- Otago Daily Times
New fleet of electric buses launched
Yesterday the Otago Regional Council launched a new fleet of electric buses and Orbus On Demand bus service — a ride-share service for Mosgiel, Wingatui, East Taieri and Kinmont. Queenstown-based Otago regional councillor Alexa Forbes christens a new electric bus with a bottle of water. PHOTOS: PETER MCINTOSH The bus travels to about 100 stops and passengers can book a trip over the phone or using the Orbus On Demand app. The service replaces routes 80 and 81, the Mosgiel loop service. Otago regional councillors Andrew Noone and Gretchen Robertson check out one of the new electric buses. The fleet of 13 electric buses will service Mosgiel and Brighton routes and includes six large 75-passenger buses, introduced to increase capacity during peak times and allow for further bus-use growth in Mosgiel. Buses charge at the Mosgiel Electric Bus Depot in Dukes Rd North, Mosgiel. Some buses began running earlier this month. — APL
Otago Daily Times
21 hours ago
- Politics
- Otago Daily Times
Putting the skids under buses
All aboard! Next stop, short-termism. In a week which gave us some evidence that New Zealand governments can think beyond the three-year electoral cycle, thanks to the release of a draft National Infrastructure Plan, buses have managed to bring us back to earth. The Otago Regional Council has been stuck between a rock and a hard place over lifting bus fares for passengers in Dunedin and Queenstown. Its hardest decision was whether to follow the road the government is steering regional councils down — to get rid of free bus fares for children. In the end, the council had little choice but to go in the direction laid out by the NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi. Despite opposition from some councillors, 5 to 18-year-olds will now pay $1.50 per trip while single adult fares will rise from $2 to $2.50. Cr Michael Laws, who voted against the adoption of the council's regional public transport plan 2025-35, voiced the concerns many parents will have, that at $1.50 a trip for only one child, that extra $600 a year may be another significant burden for a struggling household. Insisting on children becoming fare-paying customers was at odds with Associate Education Minister and Deputy Prime Minister David Seymour's anti-truancy "crusade", Cr Laws said. PHOTO: ODT FILES It certainly is the case that the council has been railroaded into the fare hikes by the government. Their arms have been twisted by the not-so-subtle threat that to be eligible for central co-funding of public transport, they must align themselves with the Government Policy Statement on Land Transport and NZTA's fares and funding policy direction. While the previous Labour government and the Green Party have been big supporters of public transport, and low or no fares for children, the coalition has been slowly but surely turning that approach around. We have also seen it in the loss of financial support for cycling and pedestrian initiatives, and in money being more freely available for major roading projects (not to mention higher speed limits). What the government is actually doing is putting things in reverse when it comes to a cleaner, green future for New Zealand. The council, and others around the country, are now in a very difficult position, because if patronage falls as a consequence of these changes, then that's not an encouraging sign for the future of that service. The cleft stick faced by the regional council is that it could have carried on without the fare increases, but that would have cost ratepayers several hundreds of thousands of dollars in higher rates bills. Council staff told councillors ahead of the vote it was a "tricky balance" for them this time, trying to take into account elected representatives' expectations and those of the community and government. While there was "strong public support" for free children's fares, there was "strong opposition" from NZTA. Cr Andrew Noone, the co-chairman of the public and active transport committee, made it obvious to colleagues they had little choice. It had been made "pretty clear there could well be implications to existing services" if the council didn't increase passenger revenue. Chairwoman Cr Gretchen Robertson articulated her concerns about the unfairness of the position the government had put the council in. ORC one of the best-performing authorities when it came to raising money from public transport, but that success remained unrewarded: "Instead we are penalised and threatened with removal of current services and that's simply not OK," she said. Councillors agreed to write to Mr Seymour, Education Minister Erica Stanford and Transport Minister Chris Bishop in an attempt to explain that children's bus fares could backfire and affect attendance at school. We are of the view that scrapping free buses for children and increasing fares for adults is the kind of step backwards which those concerned about the country's future would go to great lengths to avoid. However, we appreciate the invidious position the regional council is in and understand why it made the decision it did. The pressure on bus fares from the coalition would be concerning enough on its own, without the wider amplifying anti-regional council views that some, most notably thwarted Resources Minister Shane Jones, are expressing. Little wonder the council, and its contemporaries across the nation, will be opting to take a cautious approach.
Scoop
a day ago
- Climate
- Scoop
Caution Over Worsening Weather Conditions
Otago Regional Council is issuing a weather caution around increasing rain, snow and the likelihood of rivers rising in some parts of Central and coastal Otago. From this evening and across tomorrow until at least 9pm tomorrow night, Metservice is expecting increasing amounts of rain, especially for coastal Otago. ORC's Manager Natural Hazards, Jean-Luc Payan, says 'While the weather front is still approaching, people need to consider that forecast snow, rain and rising river conditions can change very quickly during the next 24-36 hours with little warning,' Dr Payan says. (Period covering 9pm this evening through to 6pm Saturday) The Metservice forecast (at 16:30) now has a heavy rain warning in place for Dunedin and Clutha; between 60-90mm, and heavy rain watch for North Otago; between 20-40mm. There is also a heavy snow watch down to about 400 metres for Central Otago and inland Dunedin and Clutha. Saturday is expected to have some heavy falls, easing in the evening, with strong southwesterlies at times. Low lying areas which could potentially be affected include parts of the Tokomairaro floodplain including Milton, the Lower Taieri floodplain including Henley, the Lower Clutha floodplain and Middlemarch. Water of Leith and Lindsay Creek in Dunedin are not expected to overtop their banks. The Silver Stream near Mosgiel is expected to peak at about 90 cumecs early Saturday afternoon. No overtopping is expected. The Taieri River at Outram is expected to peak tomorrow evening at about 700 cumecs. Flooding of the unprotected areas downstream of Outram is likely. The Clutha River at Balclutha is expected to peak at around 1900 cumecs on Sunday morning. Flooding is likely in low lying areas adjacent to the river upstream of Balclutha, and unprotected areas downstream of the township on the Clutha delta. ORC staff will be monitoring streams and rivers 24/7 for the next 48-hours and staff and contractors will be in the field checking flood bank and drainage assets and pumping stations. Rural communities should consider stock currently in low lying areas and where feed is stored. Motorists are being asked to consider the necessity of their weekend travel plans, given the snow falls expected inland of Dunedin, and across Central Otago and parts of northern Southland. Further river and stream info, ORC's Environmental Data portal Before travelling, people are urged to check in with NZTA about road conditions:
