Selwyn mayor announced state of emergency from Wellington
An image taken by Selwyn Mayor Sam Broughton in a helicopter flyover shows the flooding around Te Waihora Lake Ellesmere on May 2.
Photo:
LDR/supplied
A decision by the Selwyn mayor to fly to Wellington while his region was under a heavy rain warning has been defended by the council boss.
Mayor Sam Broughton announced a
state of emergency for his flood-hit region
in a social media post on 1 May at 6.30am, from a hotel room in the capital.
Broughton and councillor Elizabeth Mundt flew to Wellington on the afternoon of 30 April for the All of Local Government meeting - a gathering of council and government representatives.
The MetService had issued an orange rain warning for Canterbury on the morning of 30 April.
Locals have expressed anger on social media that Broughton was not in Selwyn during the emergency.
Selwyn District Council chief executive Sharon Mason defended the decision for Broughton - who is the Local Government NZ president - to attend the event.
"We had been watching the weather forecasts all week, and the advice was that the bulk of the rain would fall in Waimakariri, Hurunui, and Kaikōura, and it was okay to travel," Mason said.
As the weather changed, Mason said she discussed with Broughton that it was better for her to remain in Selwyn.
Selwyn Mayor Sam Broughton
Photo:
RNZ / Angus Dreaver
"Sam stayed updated on developments from the team that evening and early Thursday morning when the decision was made to declare a state of emergency," Mason said.
"As it became clear that the predicted rain was falling further south than anticipated by both MetService and ECan [Canterbury's regional council] Flood Controllers, every effort was made to ensure smooth communication, and Cr Sophie Innes was deputised with the powers associated with the state of emergency.
The stormy weather in Wellington cancelled all flights in and out of the Capital, so the mayor drove to Palmerston North to catch a flight back on the afternoon of 1 May, she said.
The state of emergency was lifted at 3pm on Friday.
On his return, Broughton travelled in a helicopter with
Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell
, MP Vanessa Weenink members of the civil defence team.
Mason said it "provided a clear view of the hardest-hit areas and an overview of where swollen rivers and streams had overflowed".
"This was also an opportunity to explain to Minister Mitchell the dynamics of Te Waihora, particularly the importance of the lake's water level and the right tidal conditions for an effective opening."
A week later, the district is still counting the cost of the heavy rainfall and flooding, but Mason said it was too early to estimate the cost of recovery.
Mason said the focus is on supporting people who had homes and properties affected by flooding. The council was also assessing the damage to roads and bridges.
Broughton said the goal is always to prepare early, communicate clearly, open the Emergency Operations Centre promptly, and take a precautionary approach.
"While I believe we did these things well, there will always be room for improvement.
"I am incredibly proud and thankful for the hard work of our teams, our emergency services, and the great work neighbours did with and for each other."
The hardest hit areas were around Te Waihora Lake Ellesmere, including the towns of Leeston and Doyleston, which suffered severe surface flooding.
There was some
criticism that Te Wiahora Lake Ellesmere could have been opened
to the sea sooner to avoid the water flowing down the bulging Selwyn River from backing up and causing surface flooding.
ECan hazards general manager Leigh Griffiths said it was supposed to be opened before the heavy rain, but an opening wasn't possible.
"We didn't attempt an opening at that time because of the sea conditions - the swell was too large, so we were confident any attempts at opening wouldn't succeed."
The lake opening is jointly managed by Ngāi Tahu and ECan, and governed by the National Water Conservation Order and suite of Resource Consents.
Griffiths said consultation for a lake opening started on 28 April, and a joint decision was made to open late on 29 April, with the heavy rain starting on 1 May.
An opening was made on May 3, but the tide and waves closed it up again overnight, Griffiths said.
The lake was successfully opened to the sea again on Monday and remained open for 24 hours.
"Sea conditions are currently good. Machinery remains onsite to help the process along."
The cost of each opening ranges from $20,000 to $150,000, depending on the amount of work.
LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
RNZ News
14 hours ago
- RNZ News
Auckland's 'vulnerable' rain radar at end of life but must survive another year
The remote radar site is located on Mount Tamahunga near Warkworth and is only accessible via helicopter. Photo: Supplied by MetService Auckland's ageing rain radar needs to survive another year before it can be replaced with a new model. The radar on Mount Tamahunga was commissioned in 1989 and regular upgrades have kept it running well beyond its typical 20-year lifespan. MetService's general manager of observing systems Kevin Alder told Nine to Noon the radar was a critical piece of infrastructure. "Its job is to provide information on current weather conditions, so where precipitation is actually falling, and it does this by scanning every seven and a half minutes," he explained. "It has a range of 300 kilometres so it can see weather coming in off the Tasman Sea or in from the north-east coming into Auckland so it's critical for forecasting services and also for Auckland Council and how they manage severe weather events." MetService was in the process of replacing its weather radars up and down the country, starting with Wellington and Canterbury. "We've been funded through the Ministry of Transport to replace it in this current four-year period, and in that agreement in 2023 we were also funded to replace to the Canterbury and Wellington radars; those two were prioritised because their structures had seismic risks," Alder said. Alder was confident that MetService had the right equipment and spare parts to keep the old radar running until it could be replaced around the end of 2026 or start of 2027. "The current radar is 36 years old, it's done its time, but we have the ability to keep it running until the replacement technology is installed," he said. "We've been maintaining it throughout its life, it had quite a significant mid-life upgrade in around 2007 or 2008. We've done subsequent upgrades to its power supplies and communications infrastructure, most recently in the last three years." The new radar would be worth the wait, he said, promising new technology to give more accurate weather warnings. "We have a technology called dual polarisation which allows us to see much more clearly the shape and size of the raindrops, we can tell whether the precipitation is frozen, whether it's hail, and how quickly [the rain is] falling, and from that we get much better estimates of rainfall intensity." Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
16 hours ago
- RNZ News
Auckland's rain radar 'vulnerable' at end of life
Auckland's rain radar has reached its end of life and is vulnerable to significant outages in the event of a component failure. The coverage of country's largest city and biggest international airport relies on outdated technology, which limits forecasting and warning capabilities in the region. This was the advice given to Associate Minister of Transport James Meager - who has oversight of the Meteorological Service of New Zealand Limited (MetService) contract for forecasting. The Auckland rain radar, commissioned in 1989, is the oldest in the network and while periodic upgrades have allowed it to extend its useful life well beyond the typical 20-year horizon, it is now in need of urgent replacement. To discuss are MetService's General Manager of Observing Systems Kevin Alder and MetService's Chief Meteorologist Chris Noble. The remote rain radar is located on Mount Tamahunga near Warkworth and is only accessible via helicopter. Photo: Supplied by MetService
RNZ News
2 days ago
- RNZ News
Ninety-minute delay as fog forces Sydney to Hamilton flight to circle airport
Photo: 123rf A Jetstar flight from Sydney had to circle in a holding pattern on Saturday because fog at Hamilton Airport prevented its landing. A spokesperson for the airport, which recently restarted international flights, said it was out of an abundance of caution. Jetstar said flight JQ165 made two go-arounds, and these are standard procedures. Hamilton Airport chief executive, Mark Morgan, said he believed passengers spent about an extra hour in the air, while flight tracking website reported that the flight was delayed by one hour and 29 minutes. A screenshot from the flight tracking website showing flight JQ165 circling Hamilton Airport after fog prevented its landing. Photo: Supplied / The plane eventually landed at 12.34pm. Fog also affected seven regional flights at Auckland Airport Saturday morning. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
