Boost for flood-prone Greymouth suburb
Thu, 15th Oct 2026 (Today)
Flood protection works in the Greymouth suburb of Cobden are set to begin for the next phase of the town's floodwalls upgrade, with vegetation clearance now under way.
The West Coast Regional Council said in a statement yesterday [Tuesday] the completed stopbanks are intended to protect the Greymouth suburb from a one-in-150-year flood.
In July, Cobden was hit with severe flooding after an early morning cloudburst, with parts of the low-lying residential area inundated.
Council capital programmes manager Tom Hopkins said the Cobden work will cost $410,000.
Vegetation clearance began yesterday, with the stopbank upgrade to be completed by the end of December.
The Stage 5 work of an ongoing programme to raise the existing floodbank system across suburban Greymouth will begin in Cobden on the true right bank of the
Grey River, from Stafford Street and the Greenstone Park Speedway track upstream to the Cobden Bridge.
The Greymouth Flood Protection Project is staged to upgrade the floodwalls that were built in 1990 in response to the twin floods of 1988 that devastated the CBD and suburbs of Cobden and Blaketown.
The floodwalls are being raised to meet future climate derived sea level rises, with the lower Grey River prone to tidal flooding, increasing protection from a 1-in-100 year event to 1-150.
The project is divided into five stages. On the southern bank, the first stage stretches from Richmond Quay in the Greymouth CBD to Preston Road. Stage 2 is from
Preston Road Bridge to the Blaketown Fisherman's Wharf, Stage 3 from Preston Road to Anzac Park by Sawyers Creek, and stage 4 is from the Preston Road Bridge to Raleigh Street bordering Te Nikau Hospital.
The project cost is $4 million and is co-funded through the Regional Infrastructure Fund and the regional council.
Stages 1 and 3 were completed in 2025 and stages 2 and 4 are nearing completion.
Cobden has been prone to flooding in the past with periodic flooding particularly around the Range Creek catchment in the lower reaches of the suburb.
There has also been periodic overtopping from the sea at Domett Esplanade, including in June 2022.
The Grey District Council and regional council have been unable to agree on who is responsible for maintaining historic rockwork protecting Domett Esplanade dating from the early 1960s, with the district council maintaining it does not fall within its jurisdiction.
