Moutoa floodgates and Foxton Beach flood barriers remain in place overnight

Horizons Regional Council will continue to operate the Moutoa floodgates and keep flood barriers in place at Foxton Beach overnight.
 
Horizons emergency management controller Ged Shirley says that most rivers within in the region are holding or experiencing receding river levels. However, the Manawatū catchment event will take a few days to move through and is causing a few concerns.

MEDIA RELEASE – JUNE RAIN EVENT #6
14 June 2022, 5.25pm
 
Moutoa floodgates and Foxton Beach flood barriers remain in place overnight
 
Horizons Regional Council will continue to operate the Moutoa floodgates and keep flood barriers in place at Foxton Beach overnight.
 
Horizons emergency management controller Ged Shirley says that most rivers within in the region are holding or experiencing receding river levels.
 
“However, the Manawatū catchment event will take a few days to move through and is causing a few concerns,” says Mr Shirley.
 
“The Moutoa floodgates, located between Foxton and Shannon, were opened at 10.30pm last night to divert water down the spillway while ensuring the river continues to flow at a decent speed down the main stem. This helps to minimise sediment deposits and reduced channel capacity.
 
“To optimise the flow down the main stem the floodgates are usually opened enough to maintain the river height at approximately 8 metres at Moutoa. However, at 5pm our floodgate operation crew adjusted this height to 7.25 metres to increase the flow into the floodway.
 
“This is because the Main Drain at Rangiotu is full and feeding into an at capacity Oroua River, a tributary of the Manawatū River.
 
“The spillway in this area is operating as it should however, we have concerns where water is backing up and the potential risk to properties in the area, especially near the Main Drain and Rangiotu.
 
“In addition to adjusting the Moutoa floodgates level, we are working with Manawatū District Council to ensure affected landowners in Rangiotu are aware of the situation.
 
“We will continue to rotate floodgate operation crews throughout the night, with an anticipated closure at around midday tomorrow.
 
“We will also keep the flood barriers in place at Foxton Beach overnight as a precautionary measure, to allow the Manawatū River to makes its way downstream where it will coincide with a big high tide.
 
“The Makino floodgates ceased operation this morning and the flood barriers we had in place at Kowhai Park in Whanganui were removed at around 4pm this afternoon.
 
“MetService’s forecast continues to show showers, with possible heavy downpours across the region overnight. There is currently no raining warning in place however, heavy swells are forecasted for tomorrow and Thursday for the east coast of our region.
 
“Our modelling and manual checks show no cause for concerns for our catchments but our emergency coordination centre will continue to monitor with more unsettled weather predicted to arrive later this week.
 
“There is of course, still a lot of water around and soils are saturated. This combined with the strong westerlies the region is experiencing does make areas susceptible landslips, erosion, fallen trees and debris so we remind people to be cautious”
 
Up-to-date information on river heights and rainfall is available via Horizons 24 hour toll-free Waterline 0508 4 FLOOD or via our website www.horizons.govt.nz
Updates will also be posted to the Manawatū-Whanganui Civil Defence page: https://www.facebook.com/civildefencemanawatuwhanganui/
For weather forecasting information please see www.metservice.co.nz
For road closures, delays, and warnings please see https://www.journeys.nzta.govt.nz/manawatu-whanganui/