Your wet weather and flooding questions answered

Move valuable and dangerous items, including electrical equipment and chemicals, as high above the floor as possible.

Use watertight containers to store important items.

Lift curtains, rugs and bedding off the floor. 

If it is unsafe, you may wish to leave your house and go to a family or friend’s place.

If you are in immediate danger, call 111.

If you wish to evacuate you may want to move to a family or friend’s place in the first instance.

If you are in immediate danger or need assistance to evacuate, call 111.

If you notice any landslips please contact us on 03 941 8999 or 0800 800 169.

Our staff will be able to get in touch with a contractor to attend to the slip.

Find the latest information about kerbside collections. 

Bring your bins in as soon as possible after they've been emptied to avoid them being tipped over or blown away by high winds. Our collection team will endeavour to clean up any spillages as best they can as they collect bins. 

If your street isn't heavily flooded, put your bins out in the morning before 6am, rather than overnight. This will reduce the chance of bins tipping over and material spilling in high winds. 

If your street is closed due to flooding, please do not put your bins out until your street has reopened. Our kerbside collection staff will arrange for your bins to be collected when this happens.

For the latest on road closures please check our Facebook page. (external link)

We ask that people please do not call the Contact Centre simply to report flooding on the roads.

Our roads will cope with water ponding on them and it will drain away once the rain stops. It is important that we keep our Contact Centre phone lines available for those who genuinely need help.

If flooding is causing issues you can contact the Council on 03 941 8999 or 0800 800 169 or on Snap Send Solve – an app where you can report an issue or fault.

The Council does not provide sandbags to residents. You can buy sandbags at retailers, including hardware stores. 

• If you are driving, please drive slowly to avoid causing ponded water being pushed onto people’s property.
• Avoid parking in low-lying areas, especially near rivers.
• Treat all flood waters as contaminated.
• Keep in contact with family, friends and neighbours. Ensure you have an evacuation point planned e.g. a friend’s or family member’s house.
• Check grates and gutters outside your property are clear of leaves.

People living along the Heathcote River should expect some flooding across the roads and onto their properties, and that may increase when we release water from stormwater storage basins into the river.

Stormwater storage basins upstream of the Heathcote River are designed to ease the pressure on the rivers.

Water from the storage basins may need to be released into the Heathcote if they reach capacity, which will cause a rapid rise in the water levels.

We will control the capture and release of water to reduce the severity of flooding along the river corridor.

During significant rain events parts of our wastewater system can fill up with stormwater causing issues for toilets and plumbing. This will usually resolve once rain and flooding reduce and the water network recovers. 

If you're having issues at your property, limit or avoid using toilets, showers, dishwashers and washing machines to reduce the load on your wastewater pipes.