A car powers through the floodwaters in south Dunedin, 2015. Photo: RNZ / Ian Telfer Photo:
South Dunedin residents are coming to terms with the hazards facing their community as attention turns towards possible solutions.
The South Dunedin basin - home to more than 13,000 people - is at risk from climate change, flooding and rising groundwater.
Residents can hear directly from the scientists about what challenges they are facing during a series public meetings and gatherings
In a city of hills, South Dunedin sits in a former coastal wetland. Resident Eleanor Doig is aware of the risks but loves her diverse community, which she has made her home for the past 12 years.
"People here will often hear rain on the roof at night and start worrying about what's happening. The groundwater level is certainly high.
"I dug a hole in our garden the other day and the water's not far below."
The area hit headlines back in 2015 when two months' worth of rain in a single day overwhelmed drainage systems, flooding homes, and forcing evacuations.
Doig said that was when the council started to slowly ramp up its engagement with the community about the risks, gathering facts and speaking to scientists.
She was looking forward to speaking to the scientists on Wednesday night.
"They've wanted to be able to see and hear some of the options because back in 2015, when the mayor at the time mistakenly said 'we're going to be looking managed retreat', everybody panicked because they thought that that was going to mean the whole of South Dunedin is going to disappear, and that just isn't on the cards anymore."
Last week, the council revealed it was investigating a proposal to buy at-risk properties on the open market, gradually acquiring them over the decades to help with their adaptation efforts.
Doig was a fan, particularly with many vulnerable people in the area.
"If a property comes up for sale in an area that is known to be at risk of flooding, for the Dunedin City Council to buy it and rent it, seems a much better idea than just waiting till some future date and then just forcing people out of homes."
Raewyn Auckram loved her community - it was easy to get around as someone with lower vision.
"We'd like to stay here. We're in an old house, we've been here 30 years and we'd just like to be able to stay if we can. But whether that's possible, I don't know."
Dunedin City Council and Otago Regional Council were working to create a strategy to help the community adapt to climate change over the next few years.
Flooding on Surrey Street, South Dunedin, in 2015. Photo: RNZ / Ian Telfer
South Dunedin Future programme manager Jonathan Rowe said the solutions ranged from fight to flight.
"In an infrastructure sense, pumps, pipes, seawalls and the like. Nature-based solutions like parks, wetlands ... and all the way through to managed retreat or relocation, so looking at areas that might be really high risk now or in the future and looking at, how do you move people out of harms' way?"
Rowe said it could also mean intensifying safer areas with better housing. He hoped plenty of people would share their thoughts.
"We've heard really strongly that people want to stay, so a lot of what we're looking at is, how can we enable them to stay, stay safely, stay for as long as they can, and sort of live in a better and safer way?"
A Meet the Scientists night was scheduled for Nations Church from 7pm on Wednesday, 13 September.
Residents could also grab a sausage and attend a street meet on Saturday, 23 September on the King Edward Street shopping strip from 10am-2pm, or find out more about the possible solutions during a meeting on 10 October at the Dunedin Gasworks Museum from 7pm-9pm.
Dunedin City Council was expected to consider a list of potential solutions for approval for consultation by the end of the year.
