How I survived evacuating Dunedin floods in the middle of the night

It was a looming puddle along the side of my house by the laundry that prompted me to take action.

I live in South Dunedin which is mainly flat, low lying and coastal - conditions which make my home susceptible to all the things climate change is throwing at us: flooding, coastal erosion and rising sea levels.

So when, on Wednesday, October 2, MetService issued its first ever red heavy rain warning for Dunedin, I was expecting things to get worse. 

The next day, the heavens duly opened, and the deluge began, something that had not happened in Dunedin for over 100 years.

And it was that alarming discovery of a puddle by the laundry door that made me realise that this might pose a genuine threat to my safety, so I started packing some bags just in case. I packed at least three days’ worth of clothes, medications, food, a few crucial ID papers (and a couple of books to read, of course). 

Still, I had hoped it wouldn’t come to an evacuation. But as Thursday afternoon turned into a dark, rain-soaked night, my worst nightmare became a reality.

Time to wheel out

As the rain continued, I wheeled anxiously outside from my laundry, with a small torch in hand, as what had originally been a puddle began morphing into a lake.

I tried to pass the time by doing some things for my work as a policy advisor at Disabled Persons Assembly (DPA), taking a late shower and attempting to have dinner.

But all the while, the risk kept getting greater – and after being gently prompted by my former electorate MP Clare Curran on Facebook, I finally took the decision to leave. You know things are bad when politicians are contacting you directly. 

Next thing I knew, the Dunedin City Council’s Civil Defence welfare team got the Red Cross and my favourite mobility taxi firm to swing into action in evacuating me.

I was picked up around 11pm, feeling anxious and unsure as to what the next day or two would hold, as the storm was forecast to continue until early Saturday.

As the taxi drove off, I thought that I was being taken to one of the evacuation centres that had been set up, but Civil Defence had better plans in that I was relocated to a comfortable, fully accessible motel in North Dunedin where I spent the next two days.

I couldn’t fault the Red Cross team, the mobility taxi firm or the city council for what they did to get me to a higher and dryer place.

Returning home

On the Saturday afternoon, I returned home, which thankfully had not sustained any flooding or damage.

I felt relieved and pleased that my home had not been damaged, but I deeply felt for the nearly 50 other Dunedinites who had returned to homes rendered unliveable.

As lucky escapes go, it was a good one.

A week later, I found out from a neighbour that my current home had been flooded back in 2015 and that the disabled person living there at the time had to be evacuated too, while waters rose around them in an eerily similar fashion. I wonder if they got to stay in a motel too? 

Since then, I’ve reflected that, evacuating out of an abundance of caution was the right thing to do! Thanks for the nudge, Clare Curran MP’s Facebook account. 

Here are some tips for how we can best prepare ourselves for emergencies:

• Create and/or pack an emergency grab bag of toiletries, essential medications, at least three days of clothing and other supplies. And a few good books.
• Get to know your neighbours or local politicians and city councillors, as they’re the easiest people to reach out to in an emergency.
• Write down an emergency plan (even a brief one) of who you will contact, what you need to take and where you will go in any kind of emergency.
• Find out what emergency plans your local authority has around disabled people – if they don’t have anything, then lobby for this to change.
• Attend any civil defence emergency preparedness or training courses (especially any aimed at disabled people) if any are run in your area

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