Recovery Update - Friday 17 July 2026
Published on 17 July 2026
Waitaki District Council teams and contractors continue the recovery work following last week’s weather event.
A huge thank you and appreciation must go to the many community organisations and individuals who have supported the response in the past two weeks.
Those who supported the Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) with baking, delivered food for those sheltering at the Network Waitaki Event Centre, sandbag delivery and filling last Monday and Wednesday, general support and good-will and helping with the response during the State of Emergency and now in the Recovery phase.
Information and statistics on response
The information below shows the scale of the response and the incredible effort of emergency services, contractors, Council staff, volunteers, local businesses and our community to keep people safe and help Waitaki recover. Some of this may change as the Recovery period continues.
From last Sunday night to last Wednesday, Ōamaru received over 180mm of rain – more than three times the average rainfall for the entire month of July (57mm). An intense, localised downpour struck the town over four hours across Sunday night and Monday morning.
Most of Ōamaru’s stormwater network was designed and built (much of it over 80 years ago) to cope with significantly smaller rainfall events. Between 10pm Sunday and 4am Monday 80mm of rain fell.
Our contractors SouthRoads attended 17 sewer related and 15 stormwater related calls, and repaired two blown watermains.
Over 100 local roads were affected by flooding, snow, slips or washouts and over 80 were inspected, closed and signposted by Whitestone Contracting Ltd.
Emergency services attended over 50 callouts during this time, with 18 people assisted to evacuate from properties and stranded vehicles. 20+ people self-evacuated and 13 people and 4 dogs sheltered at the Network Waitaki Event Centre.
More than 9 tonnes of sand and 300 sandbags were distributed to Ōamaru and Palmerston.
Council’s building team carried out 13 rapid building assessments, and there were 180 insurance claims lodged in Ōamaru in the first week.
Conserve Water Notices
Oamaru is still under a Conserve Water status as the Ardgowan Dam is refilled. This will be reviewed on Monday 20 July.
This supply serves communities from Oamaru North to Moeraki, including Weston, Enfield, Kakanui, Maheno, Herbert and Hampden.
Lower Waitaki’s Boil Water Notice has now been lifted following three days of clear tests. E-texts have been sent to consumers.
Silt clean-up and disposal
Silt deposited during the rain event should be considered contaminated. If it is on private property, it should be reported to your insurance company and removed as waste.
Avoid using hoses to wash silt into the street or stormwater drains, where it can block the stormwater network reducing its capacity and creating ongoing issues for the community.
Do not put silt in your wheelie bin as due to weight or content they may be rejected by your waste removal company. Silt is heavy and requires a skip or heavy-duty bin, which can be provided by Awamoa Bins, WasteCo or Waste Management. Contact details are below.
If there are paths or roads with significant silt buildup, please let Council know using the Antenno App or by contacting us. Reporting locations help our contractors prioritise cleanup and reduces the risk of blocked drains.
Contact Details for Waste Removal
Awamoa Skips and Bins - 434 9445
WasteCo - 0800 3411111
Waste Management - 0800101010
ENDS
media@waitaki.govt.nz