We asked the council what they did differently this time. <\/p>\n
Wairoa District Council <\/p>\n
Civil Defence controller Juanita Savage said early messages from MetService and their flood forecaster allowed Wairoa to begin preparing before the orange warning.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were able to start preparations with messaging, monitoring, checking drains, etc, so when we got the warning, our approach was underway.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wairoa connected with inter-agency partners – particularly Fire and Emergency New Zealand – and stood up a Civil Defence Incident Management Team early and gathered information to ensure emergency responses were in place if needed.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe know our district is vulnerable to isolation and collaborating early ensured we were prepared.\u201d<\/p>\n
Savage said information from the community helped enable quick and effective responses.<\/p>\n
Central Hawke\u2019s Bay District Council <\/p>\n
Acting chief executive Dylan Muggeridge said the council started monitoring the weather system early, then worked with its community partners and emergency services.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs the forecast became clearer and more definitive, we kicked into gear and implemented the processes we always follow.\u201d<\/p>\n
Muggeridge said the council evaluated the risk as well as checked on vulnerable communities and known stormwater flooding hotspots, and ensured coastal communities and campers were aware of the risks.<\/p>\n
Council teams cleared drains and prepared for potential impacts.<\/p>\n
\u201cOn Thursday morning, teams were in the community and on the road assessing any damage.\u201d<\/p>\n
Only minor surface flooding and debris on roads were reported.<\/p>\n
Napier City Council<\/p>\n
Mayor Richard McGrath said the council was in a good position when the event began in terms of preparedness.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had roading and water crews out overnight and they continued to monitor the city\u2019s infrastructure.\u201d<\/p>\n
More staff had been trained in CDEM roles, and the council has more generators, many being portable. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe have community hubs around Napier and in the wider region and we spoke with those connectors so they were ready to help.\u201d<\/p>\n
McGrath said the stormwater and wastewater infrastructure was one of the biggest improvements, including new detention ponds at the wastewater treatment plant.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis was the first time we activated them and they worked very well.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hastings District Council<\/p>\n
In the past, almost three years, the council has made several changes in the community and internally, a council spokesperson said.<\/p>\n
They said two significant material differences are the development of 30 Community Emergency Hubs and a fit-for-purpose incident management response system. The system digitally connects the emergency co-ordination team during an event, regardless of their ability to physically access a site, and centralises emergency-related templates and contact information in one platform.<\/p>\n
In the build-up to a recent wildfire risk and this week\u2019s rain warning, the council communicated directly to the community hub leads, who shared the information.<\/p>\n
Residents were informed broadly via social media. The main messaging had been focused on roading and weather updates.<\/p>\n
The spokesperson said emergency services and relevant agencies were co-ordinated in planning and council had staff, including an on-duty local controller, monitoring the situation overnight.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur three waters and roading contractors were monitoring road conditions, drains and pumps, and preliminary inquiries were made regarding potential evacuation sites in case they were needed.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hawke\u2019s Bay Regional Council<\/p>\n
Chair Sophie Siers said they understood people needed timely and clear communication and reassurance.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s why we now have the Extreme Weather Hub on our website, which gives people access to information and tools to help them understand and assess their own risk.\u201d<\/p>\n
Siers said a huge amount of work had gone into implementing the post-Cyclone Gabrielle flood review. <\/p>\n
\u201cFor example, we have invested in enhanced flood forecasting and telemetry to monitor rainfall and river levels.\u201d<\/p>\n
She said that helps council\u2019s flood modellers and provides data for the Extreme Weather Hub.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have stronger modelling tools, while also acknowledging that weather is unpredictable and encouraging the community to monitor conditions and take care.\u201d<\/p>\n
She said council had developed its work with MetService as a crucial link in the flood forecasting chain.<\/p>\n
\u201cSpecifically in Wairoa, we have a new Wairoa Bar Management Plan, developed in partnership with the Wairoa District Council and T\u0101tau T\u0101tau o Te Wairoa and informed by local expertise as well as our own staff.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have close working relationships with councils and HB Civil Defence and Emergency Management.\u201d<\/p>\n
LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"We asked the council what they did differently this time. Wairoa District Council Civil Defence controller Juanita Savage…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":249669,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[74,1561,6186,7558,33959,8231,33960,1976,700,111,43,139,69,61492,74830,22704,5034,205,4998,6923],"class_list":["post-249668","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-after","tag-bay","tag-changed","tag-councils","tag-cyclone","tag-event","tag-gabrielle","tag-hawkes","tag-latest","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-played","tag-preparation","tag-responding","tag-response","tag-role","tag-weather","tag-what"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249668","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=249668"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249668\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/249669"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=249668"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=249668"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=249668"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}