page_title: Lake Wakatipu
section_title: Flooding
hierarchical_section_title: Lake Wakatipu / Flooding
caption_attribution_description: English: Lake Wakatipu from Queenstown Hill
context_page_description: Lake Wakatipu is an inland lake in the South Island of New Zealand. It is in the southwest corner of the Otago region, near its boundary with Southland. Lake Wakatipu comes from the original Māori word Whakatipu wai-māori.
  With a length of 80 kilometres, it is New Zealand's longest lake, and, at 291 km², its third largest. The lake is also very deep, its floor being below sea level, with a maximum depth of 380 metres. It is at an altitude of 310 metres, towards the southern end of the Southern Alps. The general topography is a reversed "N" shape or "dog leg". The Dart River flows into the northern end, the lake then runs south for 30 kilometres before turning abruptly to the east. Twenty kilometres further along, it turns sharply to the south, reaching its southern end 30 kilometres further south, near Kingston.
  The lake is drained by the Kawarau River, which flows out from the lake's only arm, the Frankton Arm, 8 km east of Queenstown. Until about 18,000 years ago the Mataura River drained Lake Wakatipu. The Kingston Flyer follows part of the former river bed now blocked by glacial moraine.
context_section_description: Lake Wakatipu has experienced periodic flooding  affecting the lakeside communities of Kingston, Glenorchy and Queenstown. Notable flooding events include the 1878 Queenstown floods, which affected a large part of the outlying Queenstown and Otago areas, the 1995 Queenstown floods, and most notably the 1999 Queenstown floods, which significantly damaged the Queenstown CBD and road infrastructure resulting in approximately $50 million worth of damage.
caption: Lake Wakatipu from Queenstown Hill
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