A street in Porirua is 'sinking daily' but the cause remains unknown
Whitby resident Sam King, 17, checks out damage along Albatross Close outside his home.
Margaret King stands on her balcony and watches part of her street slowly sinking.
While Porirua City Council feels confident there is no imminent danger to neighbours, the northern end of Albatross Close appears to slip a little further from the King family driveway every day.
The council has spent $160,000 working to solve the problem since patching up a previous dip last year, but now heavy rain from Wellington's darkest June since 1982 is being blamed for causing chunks to sink more than 20 centimetres.
Albatross Close resident Margaret King is concerned for the safety of residents and their properties as the road outside appears to keep slipping away.
She says it's not that the council are treating it lightly, just that they don't what they are treating.
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"The water is acting as a lubricant to get it moving ... the moment you get a decent amount of water. The last one was sudden. And it's sinking daily."
Whitby resident Sam King, 17, outside his home along Albatross Close where the council has put temporary traffic lights and reduced traffic to a single lane while it works to fix the road.
The council has written to residents advising them of roading changes while staff work on a solution.
An alternative road was made between Samwell Drive and the Endeavour Park carpark after damage last year so residents could access their homes.
"But are they going to be able to fix it properly so we can sleep and not think we're going to fall down a big hole?"
This section at the northern end of Albatross Close was patched up by contractors, pictured here, in 2017. Now residents say it is sinking daily following heavy rain. (File photo)
The council's executive officer of city and community infrastructure, Ashley Gore, said there had been about 20 centimetres of surface movement in parts as a slip had occurred about 8 metres below the surface.
The cause of the land movement was unknown, but there appeared to have been a change in groundwater directions or conditions possibly related to the November 2016 earthquakes, Gore said.
"Last October we installed inclinometers to measure road and land movement.
Work by council contractors last year included drilling boreholes, reinstating and resealing the road, and installing water level monitoring equipment, six sub-soil drains and five inclinometers to measure movement. (File photo)
"Until last week, there had been little or no movement, but some cracks appeared in the chip seal in the area of the road that moved last year, and further movement occurred over the weekend and this week.
"While we know that the road may continue to move, we are confident that there is no imminent danger to residents."
Work last year included drilling boreholes, reinstating and resealing the road, and installing water level monitoring equipment, six subsoil drains and five inclinometers to measure movement.
The council patched up Albatross Close in November 2016. Residents then said the road had been subsiding for more than a year and had got worse because of quakes and rain. (File photo)
"We have been collecting data from these investigative tools and are continuing to monitor the situation, especially after heavy rain.
"Recent movement in the land has allowed us to collect more data and geotechnical engineers will use this to design potential solutions."
An alternative road was made between Samwell Drive and the Endeavour Park car park after damage last year so residents could access their homes. (File photo)
- Stuff
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