Extra $700k for clean-up
PM announces more assistance for hard-hit regions
The Government has unveiled an extra $700,000 in funding to support the storm-lashed regions of Auckland, Waikato, Coromandel, Northland and Bay of Plenty.
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins announced the package after meeting with Auckland business leaders yesterday to be briefed on the impact of the city’s record rainfall since Friday.
Deputy Prime Minister Carmel Sepuloni said the $700,00 would go towards the response and recovery efforts across Auckland, Waikato, Coromandel, Northland and the Bay of Plenty.
“$500,000 is being made available to provide unskilled and semi-skilled jobs for local people who will support farmers, growers, and communities by completing clean-up work on their properties,” she said.
”The damage to farms, homes, roads, and bridges across the regions affected is extensive and no doubt will take a long time to be fully assessed. By making this funding available, local councils and other authorised agencies can hire job seekers to help.”
Sepuloni said extra funding could be unlocked for farmers and growers because the flooding and storm damage had been classified as a mediumscale adverse event.
On Tuesday, the Herald reported
the results of a survey of Restaurant Association members, which found more than half of roughly 70 respondents reported having to close because of damage to buildings.
Other problems stemmed from staff being unable to travel to work, road closures and reservations getting cancelled.
“Other issues include interruptions to the supply chain causing shortages of food,” the association added.
As of yesterday, 15,000 insurance claims had been lodged after flood events in the city, according to RNZ.
Insurance Council consumer affairs manager Sarah Knox said people forced out of their homes due to flood damage should make a longterm housing plan.
“A standard event for insurers, where it is a normal-sized flood event,
they will get through 90 per cent of those claims within a year. But this event is of an unprecedented scale so it will take a long time,” she told RNZ.
“People need to make sure that they are now looking at their temporary accommodation with their insurers and setting themselves up so that they are there for the long haul with their insurers.”
Flood, slip threat ongoing
Flood-ravaged regions were under a severe thunderstorm watch yesterday afternoon and evening, with Metservice warning that it wouldn’t take much to cause more flooding and landslides.
A severe thunderstorm watch was issued for Auckland, Great Barrier Island, Coromandel Peninsula and
Waikato from 2-10pm yesterday.
“We have seen a lot of rain [and] we’ve seen a lot of impact from this rain. So any more significant rain, it’s not going to take much to start seeing more slips and more flash flooding,” Metservice meteorologist Jessie Owen said.
Eastern Northland south of the Bay of Islands was under a heavy rain watch from 10pm last night through to 10am today.
The eastern areas of Auckland, the Hunua Ranges and the Coromandel Peninsula were also under heavy rain watches from yesterday evening.
An orange heavy rain warning was in place for Bay of Plenty west of about Kawerau, including the Rotorua Lakes District, Western Bay of Plenty District and Tauranga City areas until 8am today.