Ruined Manawatu farmers may sue over floods

5.00pm

Ruined farmers say they are considering suing the Manawatu-Wanganui (Horizons) regional council over the failure of stopbanks on the Manawatu River.

And the council says it is not surprised farmers are suing, given the severity of the floods.

Shannon crop and beef farmer Peter Kernohan said some farmers face ruin.

"We've taken a big hit. We are looking at taking further action ... looking at our options."

He said this may eventually include legal action.

Federated Farmers has previously said one arable farmer not far from the Landcorp dairy farms in the Moutoa basin lost $1.2 million worth of crops in the flood.

Another 10 cropping farmers in the region had lost $1 million in crops between them, and some bitterness was starting to emerge over the failure of stopbanks for which farmers had been paying "heavy-duty rates'.

A group of five farmers had had preliminary talks about the issue, Mr Kernohan said.

They argued the council should have taken action to stabilise the stopbank on which it was doing maintenance.

The repair work left the stopbank vulnerable, council staff have said. But the job had to be done and summer was considered the safest time.

Farmers argue action could have been taken.

"There was at least three days' notice available to Horizons that heavy rain was on the way," Mr Kernohan said. "Farmers are always keeping an eye on what's happening with the weather".

"We monitor the long-term forecasts. We knew it was on the way and we're just laymen. They have all kind of systems, engineers and specialists.

"That forecast should have been some kind of trigger to top up the bank."

Mr Kernohan said he farmed about 5km from that stopbank and was unaware of the situation.

"There are lots of farmers around here who would have been prepared to help out with labour and machinery, if they had just talked to us about it."

He believes there was enough warning to top up the bank by about a metre, which would have saved properties and crops.

"That would have done it. And there were a fair few of us who would have helped."

He even suggests the council should have considered building a second stopbank behind the first as a temporary, safeguard measure while the work was being done.

"We were left exposed and vulnerable. And we were unaware of it.

"The council had an obligation to protect their ratepayers from the effects of the flood."

Council chief executive Peter Davies said after a serious flood he was not surprised people are considering legal action.

"One of the things that everyone needs to remember is this flood event exceeded the one-in-a-hundred-year event for which the system is designed."

When that happened, the risks increased dramatically, he said.

If anyone came forward with a claim, it would be referred to the council's insurer, which would take responsibility after that.

Mr Davies said he wasn't willing to get into any discussion on the issue.

Mr Kernohan farms about 76ha on the flood plain with a mixed cropping and beef operation. He has lost all of his export squash crop, and about 25 per cent of his income this year.

About 50ha will have to be resown to get it back into production.

That will take another six months to achieve.

On Saturday morning he took his first aerial survey of his farm and other properties in the district.

"It certainly helps to get up in the air ... well, sort of, because it looks a lot worse from up there. But it puts it in perspective. You see what someone else is having to cope with."

Mr Kernohan said there are people in the region who will go under if they don't get some kind of compensation.

He does acknowledge that farming on the Manawatu River flood plain might appear risky.

But he said the farmers have done what they can to mitigate the effects of flooding, including buying a $100,000 pump to get rid of water as soon as possible.

This was done before the floods.

"As ratepayers, we are trying to help ourselves. The new pump replaces one that was 20 to 30 years old and getting inefficient."

He also argues that the area is pumping money into the national and local economies.

"At least 95 per cent of what we grow is exported. Apart from a bit of prime beef, everything from around here is sold overseas. It is an area of very high production.

"We also employ a lot of contractors, casual staff, our kids go to the local school.

"I suppose you could give it back to the snails and eels ... I'm not sure what to say there, except this land makes money."

Mr Kernohan said there is considerable anger in the community about the stopbank failure.

"Right now, we are probably too busy trying to sort things out. I was working till 12.30 this morning ... but at some stage, we will get together properly and look at taking things further.

"People are in a lot of strife now and the big question is, will it happen again?

"By some means, we have to ensure it doesn't."

Meanwhile, it will cost the regional council at least $20 million and take two years to repair damage caused in the floods, chief executive Peter Davies said today.

The council hopes some of the cost will be covered by insurance and some by the Government.

"Recovery is the major issue in front of us over the next couple of years," Mr Davies said.

Horizons is preparing a recovery package to take to the Government.

Immediate repairs have been made to the stopbanks and the council is now reviewing the long-term design.

The $20 million damage bill was only preliminary and was still rising, Mr Davies said. It could be four weeks before the final bill was known.

The Oroua River flood was thought to be something that happened once in several hundred years, not 100 years.

"That's why the system exploded in the way it did," Mr Davies said.

"There is a lot of work to be done. The soil erosion in the hill country is just phenomenal and we can't do it all in one year."

The council does not have enough tree stock to secure the slips.

Silt and gravel carried down the rivers in the flood has settled on river beds, lifting the river height and reducing the effectiveness of the stopbanks, he said.

- NZPA