Response to Cyclone Gabrielle continues across the region

Horizons Regional Council emergency management staff are continuing to respond to the impacts of Cyclone Gabrielle across the region today.
 

Horizons Regional Council regional group controller Craig Grant says the focus today is accessing welfare needs, lifelines and flood protection infrastructure.
 
“Welfare includes checking in on people and livestock, as we’re aware that there are a number of displaced people across the region and low-lying rural properties adjacent to rivers that have been impacted.
 
“We’ll be working with our city/district councils on this, as well as with addressing critical lifelines infrastructure needs such as roads, power, water and telecommunications. We’ll also be out assessing flood protection infrastructure to determine what areas may need repairs or maintenance.
 
“Our thoughts are with people who are facing the reality of flood damage on their properties and aim to have an update on sources of welfare assistance later today. We will be starting to think about recovery over the next few days as the initial response stage passes.
 
“Once again we ask people to stay out of and away from floodwaters. While they’re a novelty to some, they should be treated as contaminated and can sweep people away unexpectedly.”
 
Mr Grant says there was more rain overnight than forecasted, highlighting how tricky this cyclone has been to predict.
 
“This morning people are likely to see some surface flooding around and rivers remain full,” he says.
 
“All our rivers have peaked and are dropping so although they are still high, they have coped with the extra rainfall we received overnight. Areas that we were keeping a close watch on such as Tangimoana, Te Arakura Road near Feilding and Te Matai Road near Palmerston North are no longer a concern as rivers recede.
 
“In terms of key infrastructure the Kopane spillway stopped operating overnight as the Ōroua River dropped.
 
“The Moutoa floodgates are open and will remain so until at least tomorrow. A reminder that these floodgates don’t impact water levels upstream, they simply provide a shortcut for floodwaters to get to the sea in the lower reaches.
 
“Due to cellular telecommunication issues we lost connection to our monitoring sites in Tararua yesterday.
 
“A team is in the Tararua today to reconnect these sites, although a number of others on the east coast are still out of action. We’re working as quickly as we can to get the impacted sites back up and running, however, it’s challenging with the number of roads and bridges that are impassable.
 
“Finally, we are expecting some more scattered rain across the region today but we expect our systems to have enough capacity. However, we’re keeping an eye on the Matarawa and Kai Iwi systems in Whanganui, and Whangaehu and Turakina rivers as there is likely to be greater localised rainfall in those areas.
 
“We’ll provide another update later today as we get more information. In the meantime, please stay safe out there everyone.”
 
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/
 
For sandbag and evacuation information please contact your local city or district council and stay tuned to your local radio stations for another option for civil defence updates.