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Ungathered Thoughts

South Dunedin Flooding

There was a lot of rain, and it flooded. Parts of Dunedin were not built for this - reclaimed swampland wants to be swamp once more.

I got to see it first hand while sandbagging flooded houses, and it made me angry to see how much housing had been built with disregard for the environment it was being put in - concrete floor pensioner flats at ground level, with not even a door jamb to stop the water.

My favourite moment of the night was carrying sandbags past an elderly couple, lights on and watching the show happen around them, on the other side of a ranch slider door. They seemed to be having fun, and their recliner chairs were positioned to watch through their glass window, and I hoped they were warm and appreciating a shared moment as I was carrying bags of sand to the houses behind them.

(You might see a video below this line? If I haven't stuffed up the embed, and you aren't blocking content from that site ... or it's here but it's not all that fancy anyway.)