Flooding from the Manawatū River. Flood protection is the focus of work being undertaken by Horizons Regional Council.
Flooding from the Manawatū River. Flood protection is the focus of work being undertaken by Horizons Regional Council.
Tararua Mayor Tracey Collis is pleased Horizons Regional Council is focusing on repairs to stopbanks, spillways and drains along the district’s waterways.
Last week, in an extraordinary meeting, Horizons approved the use of reserve funding to repair more than $9 million worth of damage to “river management assets” as a result of Cyclone Gabrielle.
Collis said the most pleasing thing for her was to see the focus on the district’s rivers, with not only the increase in monitoring, but also the focus on the debris problem in the district’s waterways.
“That certainly was experienced at our bridges and had been giving residents at Herbertville concern for some time prior.”
Tararua Mayor Tracey Collis was pleased with the focus on district's waterways.
She said it had highlighted the focus on keeping the waterways clear.
With the warning of the cyclone, one of the focuses of the roading team was on hotspots around the district and making sure those channels were clear.
“Making sure we had the best chance in that space.”
Collis said one of the issues that would come through with the slash enquiry was that what was in the waterways would need to form part of their planning.
A spokeswoman from Horizons said the lion’s share of funds would come from emergency reserves, as well as reserves from an underspend in river management activity in previous years.
She said the rest would come from landowner contributions, reallocated Government funding and a $500,000 loan for one scheme.
Staff had assessed the damage and met with affected landowners over the past two months to determine what needed addressing to reinstate flood protection for vulnerable communities.
Horizons group manager for catchment operations Dr Jon Roygard said with the initial assessment completed, a package of repair works were put to the council in an extraordinary meeting last week.
He said while the use of reserves would limit the impact on rates, reserves for some schemes would “now be significantly depleted”.
“This means our ability to repair anything for those schemes in the future without a rate impact is very limited.”
Horizons chairwoman Rachel Keedwell said Cyclone Gabrielle and the many events prior to it highlighted the impact climate change could have on river management activities.
“Looking ahead, we need to give some serious consideration to how we provide communities flood protection and whether our current management of rivers is fit for purpose.”
She said with emergency reserves depleted, that suggested the current approach was unsustainable.
Conversations around that would need to be part of the council’s 2024-34 Long Term Plan.
Emphasis was on building back better rather than replacing like-for-like, which included things such as changing materials used for erosion control works or giving the river a wider corridor to move through, Keedwell said.
Roygard said the cyclone was a significant event for the region.
“We acknowledge communities in the Tararua District and upper Pohangina and Ōroua catchments have been heavily impacted by the cyclone. This is on the back of a wet winter and other events as well, which also impacted other parts of the region. Those currently in recovery are likely to be so for several years.”
Repairs would be done on a priority basis, with the aim of completion as soon as they practically could with the resourcing available.
The council had also committed to an ongoing package for debris management in the Tararua District to reduce the damage from debris on infrastructure.
Meantime, residents on Rakaiatai Road who were affected by the bridge being washed away during the February storm have been given the go-ahead to build a temporary ford while long-term plans for a new bridge get sorted.
The moment the bridge on Rakaiatai Road broke away from the road.
Initially, residents were using a dinghy to get across the river for any trip to Dannevirke, but were concerned about making those trips as winter approached.
The Horizons spokesperson said given the circumstances regarding people needing safe access to properties, the council had no issue with this being done.
