Just a couple of hundred metres down (thankfully!) the hill from the College, the Water of Leith displayed all its glory during Dunedin's deluge of rain in July.
The usually placid and clear Water of Leith that flows through the University of Otago's campus quickly turned into a raging brown torrent as it responded to the heavy rain experienced by large parts of the South Island on 21 and 22 July.
As the river is just a minute's walk from the College, and knowing that it would be quite a sight, my wife, Brenda, and I couldn't resist some rubbernecking early in the morning of Saturday, 22 July. And besides, Brenda wanted to check that the building that she works in at the University on the other side of the Leith was not experiencing any water problems.
So, on came our wet and cold weather gear including the gumboots and off we plodded, camera safely tucked away in my pocket to protect it from the driving rain and wind.
We were not disappointed with what we saw. The volume of water was impressive, as was it's power, as my photos and short videos show. We didn't see the water at its highest; that had occurred during the night as evidenced by the high water mark we noticed on the banks of the river.
We also took a walk downriver to the Commerce Building to see how the water was flowing at a different part of the campus, near Clyde Street. On the way, an empty red kayak came rushing by, followed a few minutes later by some oars. The owner must have escaped unscathed earlier on!
Our sightseeing escapade was well worth it as the flooding Leith is not an everyday occurrence. It was nice, however, to return to our warm residence and defrost my freezing hands. I've learned that it's not possible to operate my smartphone wearing gloves!
(Story by the Master, Dr Charles Tustin)
