National Emergency Management Agency [Nema]<\/a>, Fire and Emergency New Zealand and central Government agencies would all work with the council where required, he said.<\/p>\n\u201cIt\u2019s ironic really, because we are still doing the recovery from the last event, so we have systems in place and good communications going within the region and within the agencies that we potentially will need again.\u201d<\/p>\n
Couper said it was a \u201clittle bit early\u201d to say whether there would be a state of emergency placed on the district.<\/p>\n
The council was assessing whether to stand up an emergency operations centre this afternoon, he said.<\/p>\n
Far North District Council said residents should avoid areas with landslides, steep slopes, streams, creeks and rivers.<\/p>\n
Kaipara District Council encouraged people to download the Antenno app in order to stay informed.<\/p>\n
The council\u2019s roading crew are doing network sweeps to make sure culverts and cesspits were open and flowing.<\/p>\n
Crews were on standby to deal with potential fallen trees blocking roads.<\/p>\n
The Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) was on standby and will be stood up immediately when required.<\/p>\n
Marae open for communities in need<\/p>\n
Some marae and safe spaces had been opened for wh\u0101nau who need spaces to go.<\/p>\n
They include T\u016bparehuia Marae, M\u014dkau Marae, \u014cakura Sports Complex, Ngaiotonga Marae, Ngunguru Marae and Otetao Marae.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you or your wh\u0101nau need a safe place, please don\u2019t hesitate to head to one of these locations,\u201d a post on the Ng\u0101tiwai Trust Board\u2019s Facebook page read.<\/p>\n
Northland Civil Defence Emergency Management Group spokesman Zachary Woods said district councils were the best places to report issues with and receive updates on local infrastructure, such as roads. <\/p>\n
\u201cIf centres or marae are opened to provide support, they will be published on the district council websites.\u201d<\/p>\n
Woods said councils, emergency services and Northland Civil Defence were meeting regularly and co-ordinating closely before the event.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are working with MetService and the Northland Regional Council Hydrology team and positioning resources across the region to respond effectively if needed.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said Northland Civil Defence would share updates as conditions develop.<\/p>\n
Northland schools evaluating risk<\/p>\n
Kamo Intermediate School advised caregivers on Facebook this afternoon that the kura (school) would be open for instruction tomorrow, but students living out of town and unable to get to school had the option to work from home.<\/p>\n
\u201cSome of our staff will also have to contend with the rising tides, slips and surface flooding that we are all expecting, so they may be teaching online tomorrow, from home.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cPlease note this is not an invitation for all students to work from home; it is out of safety that we invite students who are affected by the weather to do so.\u201d<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Kaikohe East School said caregivers were welcome to collect their child early today and limit travel where possible.<\/p>\n
Tauraroa Area School and Maungakaramea Primary School said it would keep an eye on the forecast and would advise of any updates regarding closures or bus changes.<\/p>\n
Waiotira School requested caregivers kept notifications turned on in case they needed to post urgent updates regarding closures or bus changes.<\/p>\n
Orange heavy rain warning for Northland<\/p>\n
The rest of Northland is under an orange heavy rain warning from 4pm today until 4am on Friday. <\/p>\n
MetService said there was a high chance the remainder of the region could be blanketed in a red warning too.<\/p>\n
Between 150-250mm of rain is expected to fall, with peak rates starting at 15-25mm\/h and increasing to up to 40mm\/h and possibly more through to Friday morning.<\/p>\n
Thunderstorms are possible from tomorrow afternoon.<\/p>\n
Northland is also under an orange strong wind warning lasting from 9pm tonight until 11pm tomorrow, with severe gale and east-to-northeast winds gusting 120km\/h in exposed places.<\/p>\n
MetService meteorologist Mmathapelo Makgabutlane said a red warning was because it was a \u201cmulti-hazard\u201d weather event.<\/p>\n
Coastal areas in particular were set to be battered by the combination of heavy rain and powerful winds, with Makgabutlane warning of swells along the eastern coastline in excess of 4m.<\/p>\n
Although the last month has been on the \u201cdrier side\u201d, she warned that steady, heavy rain over the coming day could saturate soil before \u201creal intense\u201d periods are expected to hit tomorrow.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe entire period of the red warning is possibly impactful, but especially from Thursday afternoon and evening,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Flooding, slips and dangerous road conditions were expected.<\/p>\n
Strong winds could damage trees and powerline structures as well, she warned.<\/p>\n
Makgabutlane said even with an orange weather warning, there was a danger to life and property.<\/p>\n
Now was the time to prepare, she said, encouraging people to heed advice from agencies on the ground, such as local councils, NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA) and marae.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think this year we\u2019ve seen many examples of what powerful winds can do, so [it\u2019s] being mindful of that,\u201d Makgabutlane said.<\/p>\n
MetService would be working closely with agencies such as local councils who are on the ground, she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is an evolving situation.\u201d<\/p>\n
What you can do to prepare<\/p>\n
Clear drains and guttersSecure loose outdoor itemsMove valuables and vehicles away from flood\u2011prone areasRelocate stock from low\u2011lying land and bring pets indoorsEnsure essential supplies are on hand in case of power outages or road closuresPrepare a grab bag and evacuation plan<\/p>\n
Brodie Stone covers crime and emergency for the Northern Advocate. She has spent most of her life in Whang\u0101rei and is passionate about delving into issues that matter to Northlanders and beyond.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The worst of the weather is forecast to start tomorrow, with peak rates initially reaching between 15-25mm per…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":346583,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[1443,41242,9526,806,36031,15245,26225,6097,2837,3602,3092,71,42,6800,34090,58887,99385,2683,43,1067,1118,5493,6560,26884,15406,530,7192,6302,2848,6100,6211,165,40,38,41,39,11226,4998],"class_list":["post-346582","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-about","tag-alert","tag-another","tag-as","tag-bears","tag-concerned","tag-daylight","tag-down","tag-during","tag-earlier","tag-floods","tag-from","tag-headlines","tag-homes","tag-intense","tag-loom","tag-marae","tag-move","tag-news","tag-northland","tag-of","tag-open","tag-rain","tag-recovering","tag-red","tag-residents","tag-risk","tag-safety","tag-severe","tag-still","tag-system","tag-their","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-urged","tag-weather"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/346582","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=346582"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/346582\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/346583"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=346582"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=346582"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=346582"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}