Repairing the region's flood protection schemes following June's flooding will cost $4.3 million, says the Horizons Regional Council.
A report to its catchment operations committee said Horizons planned to claim for "essential infrastructure reinstatement costs" under the National Civil Defence and Emergency Management Plan.
In the meantime, $3,360,595 would be needed for high priority repairs and on Wednesday the committee recommended that the council should vote to use reserve funds to cover the cost of work over the next 12 months; 80 per cent would come from flood scheme reserves and 20 per cent from infrastructure reserves. The committee also suggested an environmental grant of $27,500 for floodgates for the Makirikiri stopbanks.
Horizons operations manager Allan Cook said repairs would begin as soon as weather allowed. "Given the worst of the winter could still be ahead of us, the likelihood of further damage aggravation before repairs can be effected cannot be discounted."
On the weekend of the flooding, Wanganui recorded one-in-100-year rainfall for a 48-hour period. "When it is considered that most of that rainfall occurred within a 36-hour period, the magnitude of flooding and extent of damage becomes understandable," Mr Cook said. The new stopbanks along Anzac Parade overflowed by 400mm for 12 hours but were relatively lightly damaged.