Walker found a \u201ccomplete disaster\u201d the morning after the deluge.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe water must have hit at pace … we had large fridges knocked off their feet and sent careening across the store.\u201d<\/p>\n
Appliances were damaged following flooding on March 26. Photo \/ Folders<\/p>\n
Because of water damage and humidity, it took more than a week for power to be restored.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think all stock is a write-off. I estimate that we\u2019d be looking at close to a million dollars in cost.\u201d<\/p>\n
Walker observed the stopbank behind Bells Produce after the flood and believed it appeared \u201chighly inadequate\u201d.<\/p>\n
He claimed one side of the stopbank appeared higher than the other.<\/p>\n
Water damage left electronic appliances broken and power out. Photo \/ Folders<\/p>\n
\u201cThe water coming over that stopbank must have created a wave, because it did so much damage.\u201d<\/p>\n
Folders had been growing, employing locals, supplying nationwide, and had opened a warehouse in Auckland.<\/p>\n
\u201cNow we\u2019ve been kicked in the teeth quite hard, and it\u2019s like starting again, it\u2019s a complete rebuild,\u201d Walker said. <\/p>\n
Fridges were thrown by the force of floodwaters. Photo \/ Folders<\/p>\n
He said Folders would likely be out of action for months.<\/p>\n
For now, they would temporarily shift their operations to Auckland.<\/p>\n
Walker knew the area was flood-prone but wondered if enough had been done to prevent flooding.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want some level of understanding of what and how the regional council is going to mitigate the risk of this ever happening again.\u201d<\/p>\n
Awanui River Working Group chairman Joe Carr said no scheme could guarantee total protection but he was confident the upgrades would offer greater protection to Kait\u0101ia than before.<\/p>\n
He said the scheme performed well overall and where overtopping had occurred, upgrades were incomplete. There was still potential for flooding in parts of North Park Drive in future.<\/p>\n
Carr said the flood scheme was being upgraded as fast as resourcing, funding and practicality allowed.<\/p>\n
Northland Regional Council mapping showed the area was flood-prone, with modelling indicating water could reach up to two metres deep in places.<\/p>\n
The regional council did not accept responsibility for floodwaters overtopping stopbanks and damaging nearby businesses.<\/p>\n
Hourly rainfall figures and river flows from March\u2019s event showed record volumes of water, with flood flows of 413 cubic metres per second recorded.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe storm produced flows well above the scheme\u2019s overall one-in-100-year design level and in areas where overtopping occurred, scheme upgrade works are not yet complete,\u201d Carr said.<\/p>\n
Temporary flood protection works were under discussion, and temporary repairs had already been carried out.<\/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":"Walker found a \u201ccomplete disaster\u201d the morning after the deluge. \u201cThe water must have hit at pace ……\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":384658,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[7495,38864,114108,138,6255,3595,5205,22510,24925,199604,71,3594,18839,111,43,139,1067,69,90,199602,5914,2574,199603,27950,1326,1361,14638,199605],"class_list":{"0":"post-384657","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-zealand","8":"tag-1m","9":"tag-answers","10":"tag-assurance","11":"tag-business","12":"tag-businessman","13":"tag-by","14":"tag-council","15":"tag-damage","16":"tag-flood","17":"tag-flooddamaged","18":"tag-from","19":"tag-hit","20":"tag-kaitia","21":"tag-new-zealand","22":"tag-news","23":"tag-newzealand","24":"tag-northland","25":"tag-nz","26":"tag-on","27":"tag-protections","28":"tag-regional","29":"tag-reopening","30":"tag-repairing","31":"tag-seeks","32":"tag-shop","33":"tag-that","34":"tag-wants","35":"tag-worthwhile"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/384657","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=384657"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/384657\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/384658"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=384657"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=384657"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=384657"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}