Attributable to ORC Duty Flood Officer Ellyse Gore:

The Otago Regional Council (ORC) is keeping a close eye on further heavy rain forecast for East Otago and the Otago headwaters this weekend. The risk of river flooding in the region is currently considered low.

MetService is predicting heavy rain for Eastern Otago (about and south of Oamaru and North of Dunedin) and the headwaters of Otago lakes over the weekend. Our analysis today anticipates that river levels in those areas will rise markedly, but not to concerning levels, and Lakes Wakatipu and Wanaka have plenty of capacity to hold more water.

ORC’s 24/7 flood monitoring system, and our wider natural hazard event monitoring function, is considered an essential service under Covid-19 alert level 4, and has continued throughout lockdown.

For up-to-date river flow and rainfall information at sites across Otago: www.orc.govt.nz/managing-our-environment/water/water-monitoring-and-alerts