Wellington residents find faecal matter, sanitary products on street amid heavy rain

12:31 pm today

Residents in Wellington's Island Bay say they were disgusted to find a stream of faecal matter and sanitary products from overflowing maintenance hole covers during heavy rain overnight.

Footage posted on social media showed a dirty yellow plume extending into surface flooding along the suburb's Parade during heavy rain and lightning storms which shook the capital at about 1am.

Resident Richard Peters said he and his partner were woken by the lightning and rain and - after suffering flood damage to their property in April - went outside to check on the street.

Workers are on site, cleaning up the street.

Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone

He said they were confronted by extensive amounts of sewage washed up on the edges of surface flooding along the Parade's cyclelane and footpaths.

"Disgust. It stunk, it was awful and it was even worse once [the water] had subsided. You can see it all along the cycle way and a bunch of the road. There's so much of it.

"It was literally pieces of poo on the ground, tampons and brown water, It was feral and disgusting," Peters said.

Richard Peters said the smell on the street was "awful".

Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone

He said the situation on Friday morning was especially troubling as flood waters had come beneath their home during severe weather in April.

"The rain was much less last night than April and the fact that it couldn't handle that ... This isn't good enough," Peters said.

He said he was now concerned that - in cleaning up following the previous flooding - that people had been exposed to unhealthy contaminants.

Wellington Water confirmed they had responded to a "wastewater overflow" in the area which was caused by a blocked wastewater main at the southern end of The Parade.

A spokesperson said a number of properties had overflows from their gully traps due to the blockage.

"We are working with property owners to assist with cleaning and disinfecting. We will be working with Council roading teams to check on other areas of surface flooding," the spokesperson said.

They said wastewater had made it's way into the stormwater system and the water provider would be placing signage at outlets to warn of possible contamination.

Meanwhile, the heavy rain had seen raw sewage pumped from the short outfall pipe at Tarakena Bay from the nearby Moa Point wastewater treatment plant - which was shut down due to a blockage in February.

People were advised not go into the water, or collect or eat kaimoana for at least 48 hours after the short outfall pipe had stopped discharging.

Councillor Nureddin Abdurahman was visiting homes in the community at about 10.30am.

He said there was a lot of anger over the water infrastructure's inability to cope with last night's rain.

"It's absolutely unacceptable what I saw. Some of the people, their gateways' flooded with nasty stuff. It's unbelievable," Abdurahman said.

Waste management are on site after a blocked wastwater main caused the overflow.

Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone

He said the council needed to have a hard look at the roading layout and the infrastructure in the area.

"It is just frustrating. The community is very, very angry. This is unacceptable," he said.

Abdurahman said he would share what he had seen with the mayor and council officers and would do his best to make sure the community's concerns were heard.

"My community have been going through a really tough time in the last couple of months. Now another one coming in. I'm sorry but we will solve this, we will work together and I join them in raising the issue," Abdurahman said.

Local daycare - Curious Minds Early Learning Island Bay - confirmed they had been forced to close over health concerns following the oveflow.

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