{"id":590053,"date":"2026-09-04T15:02:13","date_gmt":"2026-09-04T15:02:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/590053\/"},"modified":"2026-09-04T15:02:13","modified_gmt":"2026-09-04T15:02:13","slug":"the-district-bracing-for-an-intense-el-nino-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/590053\/","title":{"rendered":"The district bracing for an ‘intense’ El Ni\u00f1o season"},"content":{"rendered":"

A district is preparing for a possibly prolonged and intense El Ni\u00f1o season<\/a> as scientists say this year\u2019s climate event may be one of the strongest in recent history.<\/p>\n

Conditions were already dry and early<\/a> messaging from Tararua District Council\u2019s group operations manager included: “If you\u2019ve got a pool to fill, do it now while it\u2019s still raining.”<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, the council\u2019s performance and monitoring committee unanimously agreed that El Ni\u00f1o \u2013 a naturally occurring climate pattern which redistributed the atmosphere\u2019s existing heat<\/a> \u2013 was a significant event both locally and globally.<\/p>\n

El Ni\u00f1o is expected to bring a warm, dry and windy spring \u2013 putting pressure on crops, pasture, and water supplies. (Source: Breakfast)<\/p>\n

Tararua\u2019s chief strategic advisor Peter Wimsett said El Ni\u00f1o may cause unique and prolonged conditions that the council and households across the district must be proactive about but not frightened of.<\/p>\n

Earth Sciences New Zealand warned El Ni\u00f1o would become “very strong” by early September as conditions in the tropical atmosphere continued to strengthen \u2013 likely becoming one of the most intense in recent history.<\/p>\n

It caused unusually dry conditions leading to droughts, wildfires and a ground environment which wasn\u2019t prepared to handle incoming downpours \u2013 characteristics the eastern side of the country like Tararua braced for.<\/p>\n

\"Conditions<\/p>\n

Conditions were already dry. (Source: Local Democracy Reporting)<\/p>\n

The odds of “stormier than usual weather” also increased according to Earth Sciences, bringing risks of flooding and landslips across the mot\u016b despite dry conditions.<\/p>\n

Wimsett said Tararua council should focus on strengthening its water security, preparing for strong wind events, subsequent wildfires and an increased risk of surface flooding.<\/p>\n

He said resources should be put in place to support communities and businesses facing reduced productivity or livestock issues due to the weather, as well as ensuring rural populations weren\u2019t further isolated.<\/p>\n

1News meteorologist Dan Corbett explains what to expect as we enter spring. (Source: 1News)<\/p>\n

Committee chairwoman and deputy mayor Sharon Wards said the knowledge and hindsight from past droughts would be helpful over the coming months.<\/p>\n

Mayor Scott Gilmore said Fonterra assured him earlier this year they could transport water into the district if supplies became low.<\/p>\n

He added it was important they looked to other eastern townships for guidance because El Ni\u00f1o would likely impact Tararua differently from other Horizons districts.<\/p>\n

Group operations manager Hamish Featonby said a drought management plan was being developed and water restrictions would likely be introduced earlier than usual.<\/p>\n

\u2013 LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A district is preparing for a possibly prolonged and intense El Ni\u00f1o season as scientists say this year\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":590054,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,43,40,38,41,39,3393],"class_list":["post-590053","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-weather-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/590053","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=590053"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/590053\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/590054"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=590053"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=590053"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=590053"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}