Moutoa floodgate operation pushed back

A predicted Moutoa floodgate operation in the Horizons Region has been pushed back to this evening following actual rainfall overnight.

Horizons Regional Council incident controller Kyle Russell says duty officers were monitoring the situation through the night.
 
“The amount of rainfall that the Tararua District and Ruahine Ranges experienced wasn’t as much as predicted by Metservice so our modelling has adjusted and now indicates a Moutoa floodgate operation late this afternoon or evening,” he says.
 
“This will still be dependent on how rainfall eventuates over the next four hours and Metservice’s orange weather warning for the eastern part of the region is still in place.”
 
Mr Russell says rivers across the region are all coping well and should have capacity to respond to the forecasted rain.
 
“The Manawatū River’s headwaters and tributaries have received a decent amount of rain which is why we are looking at a Moutoa operation,” he says. 
 
“When we open these floodgates the river is diverted down a spillway to act as a shortcut to get high flows to the sea and relieve pressure on the lower part of the catchment. While this has no impact upstream, it provides a large benefit to properties downstream of the gates.
 
“We have also been keeping an eye on the Makino Stream and Ōroua River in the Manawatū District in case we needed to operate any floodgates or spillways there, however due to actual rainfall this has not been necessary so far.
 
“That being said we will continue our active monitoring of river systems across the region today and the weekend as required.”
 
Up-to-date information on river heights and rainfall is available via Horizons 24 hour toll-free Waterline 0508 4 FLOOD. 
 
Updates will also be posted to the Manawatū-Whanganui Civil Defence page. For weather forecasting information please see Metservice and NZTA for road closures.