Things NOT to do during a torrential flood...

[Tronhard]

This weekend Auckland got an absolute hammering from a tropical depression that ran over us, then reversed back over us, and then repeated. We had the most intense rain I think I have ever experienced as massive squalls unleashed torrents upon us. There has been massive flooding across the city with many homes inundated.

One of the critical parts of infrastructure to be impacted was our water catchment dams. The rain intensity was such that silt flooded one of our two water treatment plants and we had to significantly reduce water consumption so as to avoid having to put untreated water into the system - requiring us to boil water for consumption and a massive reticulation clean-up afterwards. Public response was such that we did not have to deal with that.

I went to one of the dams, the Lower Nihotupu, in the west of Auckland. I took a photo during a relatively settled period between the first and second storms, so the flow was nowhere near its peak...



Today the news shows an idiot lowering himself down into the spillway and into the floodway, which by accounts was over 1.5m deep at that stage, flowing at over 12m/second - once there he had no way of aborting his ride. The really scary thing is that the spillway goes into a large culvert that flows under a bridge to the sea. At the time I took the photo that was 90% pull, so it would have been over capacity when our 'hero' decided to pull this prank. He apparently relied on the water action around the intake to push him to the side where he could exit. With no means of steering that was, to say the least, foolhardy...

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/9034...in-a-tyre-tube

The video attached to the story was withdrawn at the request of authorities who were concerned of copy-cats who might not be so lucky.

[Mike Buckley]

Were it not perhaps for the young children that would be left behind upon their parents' death and for other reasons such as mental illness, my recommendation would be to let these people do their thing so the quality of the gene pool would improve and so tax payers wouldn't have to incur the costs of trying to rescue them.

[Shadowman]

Nice shot.

[Tronhard]

Yep Mike, definitely Darwin Awards Potential material...

Were it not perhaps for the young children that would be left behind upon their parents' death and for other reasons such as mental illness, my recommendation would be to let these people do their thing so the quality of the gene pool would improve and so tax payers wouldn't have to incur the costs of trying to rescue them.

[pnodrog]

It looks far more interesting with the spillway in use. It is just around the corner from my daughters house (well less than 2k away)

[Tronhard]

Hi Paul:

Yes, normally it is dry and green (with growth) or has a mild trickle, but this was serious overflow. I was impressed, even though it was between peak flows, that with the dam absolutely full, the flow out had to equal the flow in.

It looks far more interesting with the spillway in use. It is just around the corner from my daughters house (well less than 2k away)

[IzzieK]

Good framing, Trevor. The link showed that boy has an inner tube. Did he think that will save him? I will read the link in the daylight hours...Thanks.

[george013]

Whatever you think about it, but without the tropical depression and those "idiots" live would be monotonous and boring. Nothing to shoot.

How com water coming down on 2 sides of the spillway? And where does that guy ends in the spillway? The video is still there.

George

[Tronhard]

Hi George:

Glad to know you can see the video. It is still not available locally, which is logical since you are far enough away to be deterred from trying the same stunt. At the time his ride occurred the emergency services were totally stretched with flooded buildings, downed trees, power lines down, sink holes swallowing cars, and lots of cars stalled in the floods - all of which required their attention.

The spillway is shaped like the letter j (upside down) so it juts out into the dam and accepts water from both sides. This aerial shot was taken when the dam was fairly low, but you can see rushes on the top right of the spillway - it's shallower there but still a viable water flow into the spillway Water flows down and beneath a bridge, under a culvert, then pass some other works to the an estuary. I hope that helps!

[Wavelength]

Nice images

[Tronhard]

Thank you John, Mike, Paul, Izzie, Nandakumar and George for looking and your comments!

[george013]

Hi George:

Glad to know you can see the video. It is still not available locally, which is logical since you are far enough away to be deterred from trying the same stunt. At the time his ride occurred the emergency services were totally stretched with flooded buildings, downed trees, power lines down, sink holes swallowing cars, and lots of cars stalled in the floods - all of which required their attention.

The spillway is shaped like the letter j (upside down) so it juts out into the dam and accepts water from both sides. This aerial shot was taken when the dam was fairly low, but you can see rushes on the top right of the spillway - it's shallower there but still a viable water flow into the spillway Water flows down and beneath a bridge, under a culvert, then pass some other works to the an estuary. I hope that helps!

Thanks.

George