Earlier warning called for
INVERCARGILL
FARMERS were not prepared for the weekend’s flooding, due to a lack of warning from authorities, a consultant who works with farmers says.
The comments follow concerns raised by Southland farmers about the event.
The cleanup began yesterday as surface waters receded and roads reopened.
Agribusiness Consultants sheep and beef consultant Deane Carson, of Makarewa, said the severe flooding in Eastern Southland, Riverton and parts of Southern Southland was ‘‘not well forecast’’.
‘‘People prepare as well as they can, but we need better alert systems.
‘‘I’ve had a few clients say they wouldn’t have done anything if it wasn’t for the conversations they had with their neighbours and rural networks.’’
Over the past three days, he had been dealing with clients who had lost stock and suffered damage to bridges, culverts and fencing — some of which could have been prevented if they had been notified of what was coming earlier.
‘‘It became quite frightening quite quickly.
‘‘The water level picked up so quickly that the situation changed from ‘I can manage this’ to ‘oh god, I need to move this stock’.’’
Because warnings were not issued as fast as they should have been, people felt they were dealing with it on their own, which meant they took unnecessary risks, he said.
‘‘Farmers were swimming to save their stock . . . there were tractors having to bail out because the water got too deep.’’
One of his clients lost 30 sheep, a ‘‘significant’’ financial loss of about $4500.
Emergency Management Southland (EMS) controller Angus McKay said communication between weather forecasters and flood response agencies did need to improve when it came to managing big weather events.
He said EMS staff used MetService forecasts as a guide, but rain warnings this time did not indicate a ‘‘real risk’’ days before the flooding.
‘‘There’s a set criteria for watches and warnings but the rain warnings didn’t cross that threshold. It turned out that 50mm60mm of rain was enough to cause all these problems.’’
The takeaway from the flooding was there needed to be better communication between MetService and EMS, and the organisation would be talking to MetService about it, he said.
MetService was not able to respond yesterday to questions lodged in the afternoon.
Mr Carson said the combination of snow and a flood in just one week had been ‘‘a decent kick in the guts’’ for Southland farmers.
The snow event would hit farmers the most, some losing up to $20,000 worth of stock as a result.
He stressed the importance of farmers taking care of their mental health and staying connected to their rural networks.
‘‘For a lot of farmers the recovery would take a few days . . . We just need to look forward with positivity and farm on.’’
Mr McKay said the warm weather and wind had dried up much of the flooding and contractors had been working to clean up the surface flooding and the mess left behind, and pump water out of houses.
‘‘Where some of the farms were affected by flooding the [Southland] Rural Support Trust have volunteered to help if and when needed . . . it’s been a day of cleaning up the mess.
‘‘We’ve got some more rain coming in. We’re hoping that won’t cause too many problems.’’
Southland Mayor Gary Tong said the cleanup in Riverton had begun yesterday.
‘‘There has been damage done to some of the roadsides, which will be assessed and fixed as prioritised.’’
Damage around Mores Scenic Reserve, Wyndham and Makarewa had been prioritised by contractors.
‘‘We had some damage that needed to be fixed pretty quickly in those areas.’’
In Invercargill, the city council asked residents last night to stay away from the floodwaters at Turnbull Thomson Park, near Lindisfarne St, because the water lying there was contaminated with sewage and might present a health risk.
Staff were working out how to get rid of the water, the council said on its Facebook page.