Stuff
Deep Cove camp was closed due to debris risks posed by a landslide in June.
Deep Cove hostel in Fiordland’s Doubtful Sound will be reopened for overnight guests, subject to red rainfall warnings.
After a landslide at the camp in June, geotechnical findings found heavy rain could trigger more landslides and debris in the path of the hostel.
The camp was closed in August.
Deep Cove Trust chairman Mike MacManus said the geotechnical study, along with the 3D modelling, was undertaken to work out where there would likely be a debris flow and under what conditions.
This was done conservatively to make sure that the camp could provide the safest possible environment if it was to reopen.
The modelling results found that the chances of anything happening to the building were very minute, only in the absolute heaviest of rains, MacManus said.
At the time of its closure, the hostel “couldn’t offer with certainty that the facilities weren’t going to be significantly affected by another event”, he said.
“Now, with new indepth information to hand, we can plan ways to safely host people here once more.”
If a red rainfall warning was issued, the hostel would only need to be on high alert, “as opposed to freaking out and sending everyone home”, MacManus said. “Which is great, and gives everyone a lot of confidence.”
The trust was thrilled that schools could come back to the camp, he said.
STUFF
The Deep Cove trust had contemplated putting up a Givealittle page due to the financial losses that occurred during the period.
“For many Otago and Southland people, Deep Cove Camp has rated as their most memorable camp and has been a rite of passage for over 50 years, and it was with great sadness that we announced the temporary closure of the facilities back in August,” he said.
The trust had contemplated putting up a Givealittle page due to the financial losses that occurred during the period, but instead decided to open the hostel for bookings, and MacManus hoped people would book.
MetService meteorologist Lewis Ferris said that there had been one red warning for rainfall for Fiordland in February 2020 since the red warnings were introduced in 2019.
At the time, a State of Emergency was issued for Southland.
Ferris said while red warnings were rare, they were “extreme weather events that pose risk to life”.
“We issue orange heavy rain warnings for Fiordland far more often – 17 in 2023 thus far, 16 in 2022”, Ferris said.
“In most cases, Fiordland is the first stop for a weather system approaching our shores from the southwest.
“Like all of New Zealand, the weather can be very changeable around Fiordland, but it can present in rather extreme ways. It could be sunny and peaceful one day but pour down with upwards of 100mm of rain the next day.”
The hostel managers’ accommodation, Wilmot Lodge and Tree House, would open sometime during the next year, but the main building was open for accommodation bookings now, MacManus said.
The trust would work with schools around bookings for next year and communicate the new safety plans.
