Donald’s and Abbots Creeks Flood Hazard Work

Greater Wellington is working to understand the flood risk from Donald’s and Abbots Creek. Recent flooding from these creeks was likely caused by a complex range of factors.  

The situation is complex, so identifying the risks will take time. It’s likely to be at least 24 months before we complete this assessment, which involves activities like:  

• Collaborating with the South Wairarapa District Council and Wellington Water to collate existing information  
• Using an aircraft to survey the ground to understand surface levels  
• Determining how much rain falls in a range of locations, where this rain flows and how it affects the creek  
• Asking the community to help us identify where flooding happens 
• Examining how water flows through the creek and over the land. 

Understanding the flood risk to Featherston is an important first step in addressing the flooding issue. We currently do not have any detailed flood mapping of the risk from Donald’s or Abbots Creek.  

The aim of these projects is to ensure any new development is located in a safe place and built in a safe way to protect lives and property. They also provide important information for prioritising infrastructure investment and inform emergency management planning. The finished maps will be used to inform Featherston’s Masterplan and the Wairarapa Combined District Plan. 

All councils are required to make natural hazard information public and any property prone to flooding will have this information added to its Land Information Memorandum (LIM).  

We are just starting the process of creating flood hazard maps for Donald’s and Abbots Creek following the Flood Hazard Modelling Standard. 

The first step will be to look at modelling the rainfall. We have engaged a consultant to start this investigation and modelling.  

Once the rainfall has been modelled, we will feed this into another model to help determine where the flood waters might go. 

Your knowledge and experiences provide valuable insights into where flood waters might go. We will need your help to build a picture of what has happened in the past to help inform what might happen in the future.   

Please share any photos, stories or other information you have about previous flood events from Donald’s Creek and/or Abbots Creek. Please email them to us at info@gw.govt.nz. Make sure you include as much information as you can such as when and where the photo was taken. 

Here is an example of the type of photo we would love you to share with us. 

Harrison Street East Tuesday 12 July at 5.20pm 

Wellington Water, with the support of South Wairarapa District Council, is working on flood mapping in Featherston’s urban area. This looks closely at how water is flowing over land and uses this insight to predict likely future trends. This is displayed visually in large maps and considers a range of factors including stormwater infrastructure and climate change.

For more information, contact Wellington Water by emailing communications@wellingtonwater.co.nz.

South Wairarapa District Council also have a few other projects to help address flooding and ageing infrastructure in Featherston. These include:

• Working with Waka Kotahi and KiwiRail to find a solution to the flooding around the supermarket and Fitzherbert St (SH2). 
• Working with Wellington Water to construct a new pump station in Donald Street. 
• Working with Wellington Water to replace the current wastewater treatment plant. 

For more information on any of these projects email enquiries@swdc.govt.nz.

Flood hazard modelling is crucial in estimating the flood risk. It helps us to make better and informed decisions about how best to manage the risk. We want our flood hazard maps to be as up-to-date as possible to make sure they provide the best representation of what areas may flood. 

To create the flood hazard maps, Greater Wellington follows the Flood Hazard Modelling Standard. This standard was developed to ensure all flood hazard modelling projects are done in a consistent and robust way in line with industry best practice. It is designed to be flexible enough to incorporate catchment or community-specific needs. 

The standard outlines describe the steps involved to create the flood hazard maps by using computer models. These steps include:  

• Collecting information such as any historic information or pictures, 
• Determining rainfall patterns in the catchment and the resulting river flows, 
• Building a computer model to understand where the river is likely to flood, and 
• Producing maps showing areas that are likely to be flooded.  

Flood Hazard Modelling Standard

Rivers are an important part of New Zealand’s landscape and culture. Not only providing environmental and social value to all New Zealanders, but holding a special place in Maori culture.… Read more here

date_range Published 06 May 2021

Download now (PDF 1.8 MB) get_app