MEDIA RELEASE - RAIN EVENT October 2013 #4

Wednesday 16 October, 2013

Water monitoring site at Pipiriki damaged

Horizons Regional Council’s water monitoring site at Pipriki in the upper Whanganui catchment has been damaged.

Incident controller Ged Shirley says it’s likely a slip caused the damage and the site will be taken off the flood forecasting section of Horizons’ website.

“It’s going to take until late tomorrow to repair or replace the site as we wait for water levels to recede far enough to access it,” he says.

“All residents and agencies who use the site for flood notifications will be called this afternoon to let them know the latest recording information they have been receiving isn’t going to be as accurate as it should be. We’ll call them again once the flood notifications have been restored.”

Mr Shirley says there are sites at Te Rewa and Te Maire in the area that are recording accurately.

“We can rely on these sites to tell us if we should expect high levels coming down the catchment but we aren’t anticipating that happening.”

Horizons staff have also undertaken an aerial survey of the lower Whanganui, Whangaehu and Turakina catchments to establish and verify flood extent.

“Initial reports from the survey state there has been a reasonably significant inundation of water in rural areas of lower Turakina, although not as bad as 2004. We will follow up on this later today,” he says.

“The Whanganui River is 7.7 metres and slowly dropping. It has dropped 400 millimetres since 8am this morning and is now just below the sandbags placed last night.

“Operations staff in Wanganui say stopbanks have held well and we are confident there’s no risk of them over topping.”

Mr Shirley says Wanganui District Council is in the process of clearing roads with the help of the Army in order to lift cordons in the area.

“It’s expected the civil emergency declaration will be lifted at 3pm today and most residents should be able to return to their homes by nightfall. Wanganui District Council will be in touch with individuals to confirm this,” he says.

“Priorities over the next few days will include clearing roads, checking all river height recording sites and a close inspection of all stopbanks, particularly in Wanganui.”

For details regarding cordons please contact Wanganui District Council on (06) 349 0001.

Up-to-date information on river heights and rainfall is also available via Horizons 24 hour toll-free Waterline 0508 4 FLOOD (0508 4 35003) or via website www.horizons.govt.nz

For updated information on the situation members of the public are advised to listen to their local radio station or check their district council website.

Wanganui District Council
www.wanganui.govt.nz
Phone: 06 349 0001

Rangitikei District Council
www.rangdc.govt.nz
Phone: 06 327 0099

Ruapehu District Council
www.ruapehudc.govt.nz
Phone: 0800 123 RDC

Members of the public are advised to take care while driving and check the AA’s website, http://maps.aa.co.nz/traffic/roadwatch for information on road closures.

Ends

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