25 November 2016

Councils continuing to watch lake levels

Queenstown Lakes District Council and Otago Regional Council (ORC) are continuing to keep an eye on lake levels in light of a severe weather warnings issued by the MetService.

The amount of rain initially predicted by the MetService on the headwaters of Otago was slightly reduced, but is still significant. The heaviest rainfall is now expected between Friday afternoon and Saturday night.

Lake levels in Wanaka and Wakatipu are currently high from previous rainfall in the last few weeks, and are rising. With the additional rainfall predicted by the MetService, Lake Wakatipu may reach a level on Saturday morning that could result in ponding in some of the low-lying reserves of Queenstown Bay, Kingston and Glenorchy.

Lake Wanaka is also predicted to rise, but no issues are anticipated.

Locals are advised to keep a watch on river and lake levels over the next few days.

ORC has a 24-hour duty flood manager monitoring river and lake levels.

Information on river and lake levels is also available on ORC’s Waterinfo website http://water.orc.govt.nz/

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