Acting Civil Defence controller Bruce Horne and Medical Officer of Health for Toi Te Ora Public Health Dr Phil Shoemack delivering a flood recovery update last year. Photo / File
Acting Civil Defence controller Bruce Horne and Medical Officer of Health for Toi Te Ora Public Health Dr Phil Shoemack delivering a flood recovery update last year. Photo / File
Monday marked the first anniversary since flood waters rushed through a subdivision in Ngongotahā, Leah Tebbutt talks to the people behind the evacuation.
Chaos and turmoil are how many people described April 29, 2018, when the Ngongotahā stream broke its bank sending water rushing towards a subdivision, even the CivilDefence controller of the day, Bruce Horne.
"It's not about what do we do it's actually about what are we dealing with.
"That's the chaos and the turmoil at the beginning which you just work through."
Horne, who retired from the New Zealand Police at the end of 2016 after being area commander in Rotorua for 13 years, began his role with Rotorua Lakes Council in July 2017.
Council Civil Defence primary controller and infrastructure group manager Stavros Michael was in Wellington when Rotorua faced a weekend of heavy rain, leaving Horne to take the reins.
When we sit down to reflect, Horne speaks of his previous experience in the police aiding him in the new role but admits he was relatively fortunate.
"On the Sunday it was a game of two halves. We had some surface flooding which was quite serious and we had one or two isolated houses that were inundated.
"We were closely watching all the streams because we noticed the Utuhina got pretty high as well."
But it was about 3.30pm when Horne said everything changed after Ngongotahā stream broke its banks.
"We had gone from dealing to isolated events to suddenly we had a whole suburb that we had to respond to."
He explains the role of the controller is co-ordination and being "across" all parties that make up the Civil Defence team.
"You have fire, police and contractors out there doing work whereas the job is to look at what is being done."
Bruce Horne days after the flood hit the Ngongotahā subdivision. Photo / File
Horne speaks little about what he has learnt from the experience instead saying "there are always little things". But he remains humble, attributing the day to the team of council staff.
"One of the guys from the logistics team came in about lunchtime before we had to evacuate anyone.
"He said, 'look I've been thinking if we did have some serious flooding somewhere those ducks [tour boats] could be quite useful'.
"When we did need them five hours later they were all primed and ready to go."
It was just one of the examples that came to Horne's mind and he now realises when people are thinking and operating that way it makes his job a lot easier.
"People tend to be very complacent and think it will never happen to me. A real challenge for Civil Defence is trying to break through and say to people you need to think and plan."
He hoped everyone in Rotorua had learnt how to better prepare themselves in the face of a natural disaster from the devastation that hit one small section of Ngongotahā.
Image 1 of 25: Contractors sandbagging the bank of the Ngongotahā Stream on Western Rd. Photo / File
"Most of it is thinking about what you would do. You don't have to stockpile a whole lot of food, but the main thing is having it thought through.
"That takes away a lot of the panic."
I'm interested at how a controller can keep a cool head and keep their emotions at bay when across town people's homes were soaked and possessions were floating away.
This is where Michael chimes in. He has worked within councils for about 30 years both in Rotorua and Wellington and knows a thing or two when it comes to this topic.
"The reality is the controller can't think emotionally on the day and shouldn't be."
He explains the two layers of risk that ripple through a controller's head in the middle of disaster striking - the risk to life and the risk to property.
"The reality is we can never guarantee the risk to property can be fully mitigated. It inconveniences a lot of people.
"It causes a lot of mayhem and panic but at the end of the day, you have to make a decision based on what can be done to keep people out of harm's way."
His thinking is clear; if nothing happens so be it, but if it does and properties are inundated with water at least people are alive.
"Properties can be repaired, relocated and fixed. But loss of life and injuries can not and that is the controller's job to make an evaluation."
