Upgrades to the stop bank at Boundary Creek, north of Mataura, are underway now and expected to be complete by the end of February. 

The stop bank was breached during the extensive February 2020 floods, and is now being strengthened, raised, and reshaped to improve its performance in future flooding events. The stop bank has also been extended to the west by 380 metres.

The 2020 floods saw the largest volume of water to pass under the Gore and Mataura bridges in recorded history and led to the evacuation of over 4500 residents throughout the Mataura catchment.

Environment Southland catchment operations manager Ramon Strong says climate change will bring more intense flooding for longer periods to Southland.

“These upgrades will increase the protection standard for the town to align with climate change projection,” 

“Stop banks throughout the Mataura catchment performed well during the 2020 floods. They did for the most part what they were supposed to do, which is to provide protection against flooding up to a specified level.

However, the Boundary Creek stop bank was breached by water coming over the top and around the western end. Boundary Creek was a logical place to prioritise planned upgrades and the most straightforward in terms of scale, design and approvals.”

The works are among several projects Environment Southland are undertaking to upgrade the stop banks protecting the town of Mataura (population 1500+). 

Additional works to protect the town will include 800+ metres of engineered rock edge protection to stabilise both banks of the Mataura River and upgrading the Mataura Terrace and Selbourne Street stop banks.

The work will also involve strengthening and reshaping the Waimumu stop banks. Survey work of the Gore and Wyndham stop banks begins this week, prior to planned upgrades. 

The Mataura Flood Protection Upgrade is a Resilient River Communities project, one of six Climate Resilience projects run by Environment Southland.

Other upgrades and repairs include flood protection infrastructure in the Mataura, Waiau and Waihopai catchments and construction of a pump station near Invercargill airport.