Emergency minister braves rain to check stopbanks
Emergency Management Minister Mark Mitchell visited Blenheim yesterday after concerns residents would have to evacuate from Spring Creek due to heavy rain.
But the “good news” was the volumes of water and rain expected did not eventuate, Mitchell said.
“I think that they [Civil Defence and the Marlborough District Council] have done an outstanding job, they communicated very early on with the community,” Mitchell said.
In Nelson and Tasman, the rainfall did not reach the warning amounts forecast, and while rivers rose there were no reports of major flooding. Strong winds and a king tide saw water and debris wash across Stafford Drive in Ruby Bay overnight.
Mitchell said he had come to Marlborough because it was thought that 500 people would need to evacuate.
But with the evacuation notice stood down at 8am yesterday, it instead gave him a chance to look at the stopbank network with Marlborough mayor Nadine Taylor and others.
The stopbanks were in need of repairs and upgrades, which had been budgeted at $8.7m and were included in the council’s long-term plan, currently open for consultation.
“The council has been very proactive, and so they have made sure they've gone round and done a full analysis of the stopbanks and obviously they've identified one that has got a weakness in it,” Mitchell said.
“They're moving forward with planning in terms of making sure that they do the engineering work and they strengthen it for the future.”
The work had been submitted to the Government as part of the Before the Deluge business case for co-investment. The council had also submitted in past funding rounds, but were unsuccessful.
If it was successful this round, the project could receive a 60% contribution towards the $8.7m cost.
The stopbanks were critical for protecting the township of about 600 people. The town was also near State Highway 1 and KiwiRail’s main north line.
“That is more sort of in the transport minister’s purview,” Mitchell said.
“But .... all our critical infrastructure obviously has to be subject to constant reviews and analysis ... how do we prioritize, and what level of investment or change needs to take place?
“That's right throughout the whole country.”
Kaikōura MP Stuart Smith was with Mitchell to look at the stopbanks and visited Marlborough’s Emergency Operations Centre.
“We have had quite a number of emergencies to deal with over the years,” Smith said.
“Not that we want any of those events to happen, but when they do, we can be quite confident that we've got the people and the capability to respond accordingly.”
He said it had been a very good opportunity to get an understanding of the issues being faced because of the stopbank damages.
“They've [council] got a good plan to deal with it, and it will be done as quickly as possible.
“It's going to be a long-term solution they're looking to, and that's what we should all be hoping for.”
The Wairau River was expected to reach between 3000 and 3600 cubic metres per second after 9am yesterday, however, the weather forecast changed.
While rain continued to fall, the Wairau River had reached its peak at 1200 cubic metres per second.
Spring Creek residents Dianne and Robert Boniface were out yesterday morning taking a look at the river.
The pair said the river level was nothing compared to other flood events.
During flooding in August 2022, their neighbour’s backyard completely flooded and the water had to be pumped out, Dianne said.
Robert had lived in Spring Creek all his life.
“I’ve seen this river over the banks,” he said.