KEY POINTS:
Three flood-prone Northland towns in river catchment areas have been warned that protection work may still not be enough to prevent future problems.
About $1.2 million is being poured into a flood protection programme over the next 16 months at Awanui, north of Kaitaia, Kaeo, and in Kaihu, northwest of Dargaville.
The programme, led by the Northland Regional Council, is already under way in some areas and includes a mixture of river channel works and stopbank improvements.
Further flood risk reduction options are being finalised for investigation.
But the council's environmental management committee chairman, Craig Brown, is cautioning all three communities against what he says may be unrealistic expectations of what the work in their areas will deliver. Floods are natural events that will continue to occur in the region, he says.
Mr Brown said the "unfortunate reality" was that many Northland homes and communities such as Kaitaia, Kaeo and Whangarei were built on floodplains.
Some of these plains stretched for kilometres depending on the size of the river they served and the shape of the river's catchment. Many communities were close to the sea, which meant tidal influences also played a major role in some Northland floods.
Floodplains also constantly evolved and changed to offer a natural safety release valve for their flooding rivers and, because of all these factors, it was physically impossible to stop floods, Mr Brown said.
The council believes, however, that its current programme should offer improved flood protection after months of work by regional and district council staff, government representatives and members of the three affected communities.
North of Kaitaia, the Awanui River catchment will have another $623,000 spent on it, in addition to about $1.5 million already spent there since 2005 on a regional council flood protection scheme to protect the nearby and vulnerable Kaitaia town area.
Kaeo and Kaihu will get $422,000 and $153,000 respectively under the current programme, which runs until the middle of next year.
Funding for the work is coming from current and proposed targeted rates, councils and from the Ministry of Civil Defence and Emergency Management.
A new targeted rate to collect about $100,000 each year is also proposed for the flood-prone Whangaroa/Kaeo area, but is subject to community approval.
If it is approved, the funding would be additional to the current programme's $1.2 million and would be used to maintain river channels and streams in the local area.
FLOOD RELIEF
* Kaitaia: $623,000 on the Awanui River catchment.
* Kaeo: $422,000.
* Kaihu: $153,000.
* Whangaroa/Kaeo: Possibly $100,000 a year, subject to community approval.
