Residents sick of being hemmed in by flooding after weekend rain pummels Canterbury
By reporters Cate Broughton and Amber Allott:
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Residents of an east Christchurch street are sick of getting hemmed in by floodwater every time it rains, after the latest deluge left small car owners stranded once again.
Canterbury was battered with heavy rain on Saturday and early Sunday, causing surface flooding and road closures, part of a weather system driven by the remnants of ex-cyclone Dovi.
Sam McDonnell, who lives on Newport St in Christchurch's Avondale, woke up on Sunday to a road that had disappeared under floodwaters.
At 7am, the water was about 40 centimetres deep at the end of his driveway, McDonnell said.
He had owned his property since November and the street had flooded six times since then, but other residents said it had been a problem since the Canterbury earthquakes more than a decade ago, he said.
Rubberneckers often drove through the flooding, which pushed water onto properties, he said.
Locals wanted the council to look at storm water infrastructure for the area, to find a permanent solution, McDonnell said.
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Kalle
"Sports and travelling run in the family, and that's kind of what's led me to come to New Zealand."
"I grew up in a small town in Finland. My dad was involved with sports all his life, he was a shot putter, discus thrower, powerlifter, we traveled quite a bit when I was a kid. He never mentioned much of the rugby days. He just said he broke both of his shin bones playing rugby, so he said, ‘never play the sport, It's crazy.’
I started playing when I was 18. I played my first cap for the Finnish national team in 2014, we won the Finnish championship with my club. Rugby is not a big thing in Finland.
I moved here to play rugby in 2017. The club that wanted me to come over was Methven Rugby Club. They got me here and they were like, ‘what do you do for work? I’d just finished chef school in Finland. ‘We'll get you a job at Mount Hutt as a chef, you can do that while you play rugby with us.’ I said, ‘Perfect. Yeah, I'm in’.
I've always loved food. My mum was an amazing cook, and still is. When I was studying tourism I worked in some hotels in Finland, and I saw how the chef's worked. I just loved the kitchen vibe and I was like, Yeah, that’d be something I'd love to do.
I've had more of a culinary journey In New Zealand than in Finland. I started at Mount Hutt, after that I worked at The Dubliner in Methven. I worked as a senior pizza chef at Sal’s for maybe six months then worked as chef de partie at Cellar Door. At Eliza's Manor, I worked myself up to a junior sous chef. Then the opportunity came to work my first head chef job at Moon Under Water.
We're privileged to have a busy atmosphere, we can try new things and get a bit creative. There are no TV’s, just come here with your family or with your mates, play board games, to socialise.
I really want to drive the local food and ingredients through the menu. We don't mind spending more for quality ingredients as long as it's supporting New Zealand businesses. We just love to use local. And it's pub food, but I feel like it's elevated.
I play club rugby here for the Christchurch Football Club, the oldest club in New Zealand and I still play regularly for the Finnish national team, whenever they can fly me over to play."
- Kalle
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