The Taylor Dam in Flood

Many parts of New Zealand have been badly affected by a nasty storm over the last two or three days. Blenheim has had an enormous amount of rain and very strong south-easterly gales up until late last night.
The Taylor River winds its way from the south through rural areas and then through Blenheim itself and joins up with the Opawa River at Riverside Park. The town, which many years ago was subjected to frequent floods, is protected by a system of wide river berms and stopbanks bounding the Taylor River. The river is subjected to severe flooding during south-easterly storms such as we had here yesterday.
At the foot of the hills to the south of Blenheim lies the Taylor Dam. This wide earth dam was built in 1965 to control flooding within Blenheim. Behind the dam is an attractive lake which has become a sanctuary for teal, black swan, pukeko and ducks. The Taylor Dam Reserve is a very attractive place to visit for picnics, playing and walking. The lake has featured in a number of my blips
The lake is flooded after all the recent rain. I drove up there today and spent some time walking along the top of the dam structure with camera in hand. There were quite a number of other folk in the area, all taking a look at the flooding of the lake and also the dramatic rush of water out of the dam’s outflow. Apparently the local radio station had talked of the flooding hence so many visitors.
Downstream of the dam the river is a raging torrent, heading into town and damaging tracks and stopbanks as it flows. It is certainly a dramatic sight…but we don’t want any more rain!