Wave warning alert to be trialled
A wave-warning alert system is to be trialled for Wellington’s south coast as a result of damage caused by big swells last month.
The trial will see MetService provide swell warnings to the Wellington Regional Emergency Management Office (Wremo), Greater Wellington Regional Council, Wellington City Council and Hutt City Council.
It will cover the south coast and exposed parts of Wellington Harbour, including the coast of Eastbourne-Pencarrow.
The initial agreement was reached on Friday in a second meeting involving O¯ whiro Bay Residents Association representative Eugene Doyle, representatives from MetService, Wremo and the city council, and Paekawakawa Southern Ward councillors Fleur Fitzsimons and Laurie Foon.
It is intended MetService data would be used to provide public warnings to seaside communities and to residents’ associations.
Fitzsimons said it was a step in the right direction, and would not have happened if Doyle, who she called a community hero, had not ‘‘exposed the flaw in the wave warning system and worked to fix it’’.
‘‘All the agencies involved owe it to residents to ensure wave and swell warnings are provided as soon as they are available.
‘‘There are still unanswered questions about what information Niwa had about the damaging waves that hit the south coast on April 15 . . . I am determined to get to the bottom of this,’’ Fitzsimons said.
Stuff has previously reported authorities knew massive waves were thundering towards Wellington’s south coast but nobody told residents nor the council.
Representatives from the organisations would meet to discuss details of the trial in the next week or so.
Wremo staff have undertaken to provide a report in a week’s time that will cover what happened, what needs to be done to improve the current alert system, and what else can be done with south coast communities to help reduce risk and improve their level of preparedness.
City council officers also undertook to take advice on the feasibility of managing the grade of the beach following requests from some local residents, who felt this might mitigate future events.
Mayor Andy Foster said he intended to discuss with council staff the implications of the wave damage to the track from O¯ whiro Bay to Paiwhero Red Rocks and tackling the build-up of gravel under the O¯ whiro Stream bridge.