Buller: largest flood flow ever measured

• Published date: 04 August 2021
• Publication title: West Coast Messenger, The

Niwa hydrodynamics scientist Richard Measures says records show even larger flooding of the Buller River in 1926.

"It's not the largest river in New Zealand but it does experience the biggest flood flows. The flood levels through the Buller gorge are incredible" he said.

Niwa environmental monitoring technician Mike O'Driscoll used a radar gun from the Westport and Orowaiti bridges to measure the speed of the Buller River at its surface on July 17.

These measurements, coupled with surveys of the riverbed level carried out from a jetboat after the flood, provided the data for flood flow calculations at the bridges. As the bridges were being closed, the measurements showed a flow of 7640 cubic metres per second -- the largest direct measurement of river flow ever completed in New Zealand.

The previous record was a flow measurement of 5870 cubic metres per second taken in the Grey River in 1988. As a comparison the mean flow of the Buller River is 454 cubic metres per second.

Meanwhile, a Niwa monitoring station on the Buller River at Te Kuha, about 10km upstream, was continuously recording water levels throughout the flood. The monitoring station is part of Niwa's national network of benchmark hydrometric monitoring stations as well as being a key flood forecasting site for the West Coast Regional Council.

Because of its importance the site has three independent monitoring systems in place -- one sensor system to provide rapid updates during floods, plus primary and back-up sensors to record data for future analysis.

However, the magnitude of the flood meant debris knocked two sensors out of action leaving only the back-up providing real time information to inform emergency management decisions.

The water level at Te Kuha peaked at 12.8m at 1.35pm on Saturday, July 17, several hours ahead of the peak flooding in Westport. In the 1970 flood the flood peak was 11.9m. This was the biggest flood...