Council’s big wave response plan slammed

A South Coast resident has sent a blistering email to the council for mishandling a damaging wave event – and a seemingly lackadaisical effort to get things right for winter.

Eugene Doyle, of Owhiro Bay, was one of those caught unawares when massive waves slammed into his suburb, damaging properties and sweeping a person out to sea, last week. He argues mayor Andy Foster’s response – a full debrief after the Covid-19 lockdown – is too little, too late and another storm could claim lives in the meantime.

‘‘The mayor’s suggestion that all this can wait until Covid is over is . . . unacceptable. We want this publicly reversed immediately to give the community confidence that the city takes our lives seriously. Everything we need to do can be done online,’’ Doyle wrote to Foster, some councillors, and a selection of senior council staff.

‘‘If a similar event occurs during these winter months with no significant action taken, there will be consequences.

‘‘The fact that it was myself and the Owhiro Bay Residents Association (OBRA) that uncovered the gap in protocols after several days of pushing for information is similarly unacceptable.’’

Foster told Stuff he, and senior council staff, had been hard at work on the issue and had talked to numerous relevant agencies.

‘‘We are dealing with this situation already. If we need to have an earlier formal debrief we can do so but, as we say, we are already looking for practical warning solutions. And I’m happy to talk to Eugene at any time.

‘‘My intention is that a formal debrief will look at the wave damage issues for the wider region – and that we’d invite the likes of the regional council, Wellington Regional Emergency Management Office and neighbouring councils to participate given that storm-surge problems aren’t just confined to Owhiro Bay.’’

Stuff has councillor Fleur Fitzsimons’ response to Doyle in which she said it was ‘‘totally astonishing’’ that it was left for the OBRA to set up a debrief.