Why no state of emergency?
Thursday’s storm cut power, water and phone lines. It brought down massive slips over the state highway and left hundreds of tourists stranded – some in cars overnight without food and water.
So why didn’t Westland District Council declare a state of emergency?
Buller District Council and Dunedin City Council declared theirs on Thursday afternoon in response to the damage dealt by ex-Tropical Cyclone Fehi. In Tasman and Westland, emergency operations centres were established instead.
Westland District Council activated a ‘‘level 3’’ emergency operations centre on Thursday night but did not declare a Civil Defence emergency.
Westland Civil Defence public information officer Michelle Bunt said they took advice from West Coast Civil Defence, which sat above them, when considering whether to declare a local state of emergency.
‘‘We had lots of conversations on Thursday and Friday around [declaring a state of emergency]. The decision was, ‘it’s not needed at this stage’.
‘‘We were always keeping a very close eye on whether that would need to happen.’’
They had support from other parts of the country, including helicopters, generators and personnel from the Waimakariri and Greymouth councils, Bunt said. Local volunteer firefighters were on call during the strandings.
Civil Defence and Emergency Management authorities or a mayor can declare a local state of emergency.
The declaration gives Civil Defence the power to, among other things, clear roads and public places, provide for rescue, set up first aid posts, provide emergency food, clothing and shelter, evacuate premises, close roads and public places and carry out inspections.
Civil Defence guidelines suggest it is better to declare an emergency earlier rather than later.
Westland District Mayor Bruce Smith said he had ‘‘not even a thought’’ about doing so.
‘‘If there was a threat to life or a major health issue we would look at it seriously but at the moment we have just got a bad storm.’’
While Buller faced a health issue – flooded homes had to be inspected for possible contamination – crises in the Westland district were isolated and well controlled, Smith said.
Some in Fox Glacier were surprised by this approach. Ash Clarke, owner of the town’s general store, said Thursday’s storm was one of the worst he had seen in nearly 30 years living there.
‘‘I’m not an expert in weather at all but it was pretty clear to me it was going to be a significant weather event. There were some very, very lucky people around there; a hell of a lot of good fortune nobody was injured.’’
Canadian tourist Sarah Kesheh said she feared for her life.
‘‘There should have been precautions taken, there should have been roads closed. There should have been equipment, staff, resources deployed. This would never happen in Canada.’’
In a statement, the New Zealand Transport Authority (NZTA) said it warned people against nonessential travel on the coast in anticipation of the storm.
However, large parts of New Zealand’s roading network were susceptible to slips.
‘‘It is very difficult to predict exactly where or when slips will occur and in most cases it is not practical to close roads in anticipation of the possibility of a slip occuring.’’