Christchurch mayor warns of potential slips on Banks Peninsula amid ongoing deluge
The mayor of Christchurch says parts of Banks Peninsula might start slipping overnight as heavy rain continues to fall.
States of emergency have been declared in Christchurch, Banks Peninsula, and the Selwyn District with road closures, widespread flooding and slips impacting the region.
In the past 48 hours, more than 200 mm of rain has fallen in Akaroa on the Banks Peninsula.
Christchurch Mayor Phil Mauger told Checkpoint that they declared a state of emergency as a precaution to keep people informed and to assist emergency services if they needed to protect people overnight.
"To have the state of emergency so people can go in there in the middle of the night if they have to evacuate someone if they have a medical emergency or something goes terribly wrong, they've got the power to do that," he said.
The rain had been very consistent for a long time, but they were anticipating it should start to back off later on Thursday night, Mauger said.
He was concerned about a few cracks in the road on the Banks Peninsula that could turn into slips.
"There's a crack that's 50 millimetres wide and 100 metres long so if water goes down there, which it will be, there's only one thing going to happen. But it's not if, it's when so better be safe than sorry,"
Mauger was also keeping an eye on high tide which would hit on Thursday night.
"That will come in and sort of put back pressure on and that's the bit that's going to be some grief."
At the top of the Heathcote River were massive retention ponds that held more than a million cubic metres of water.
They were shut off but full and he acknowledged they could cause some grief with more rain falling.
The plan was to start to release them on the outgoing tide on Friday, he said.
He encouraged people who were considering evacuating to call the civil defence and emergency line so they could send people around to help them.
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