Horizons Regional Council’s Emergency Operations Centre stands down

Horizons Regional Council emergency manager Ross Brannigan says that the Council’s emergency operations centre has been stood down and that the Moutoa floodgates will not be activated.

“The Manawatū River is currently sitting under 8.0 metres at the Moutoa floodgates,” says Mr Brannigan.

“Our river management team is comfortable that there isn’t enough water in the system to warrant an opening later today and we have therefore stood down our operational staff.

“We will continue to monitor river levels and our duty staff will be on call over the weekend.

“Thankfully MetService are predicting dry conditions for the next few days, which will give us time to assess what the impact of Cyclone Hola may be next week.

“The Whanganui River flood barriers at Kowhai Park were removed earlier today, with the river continuing to recede.

“In Ruapehu we understand that action has been made to evacuate the 100 stranded visitors at Blue Duck Station.

“Our Rural Support Trusts are monitoring the impact on our rural communities across the region.

Members of the public are asked to stay away from rivers while they are in flood and to take care while driving.

Information on road conditions can be found on AA’s website, http://maps.aa.co.nz/traffic/roadwatch
Up-to-date information on river heights and rainfall is available via Horizons 24 hour toll-free Waterline 0508 4 FLOOD or via our website www.horizons.govt.nz
Updates will also be posted to the Manawatu-Wanganui Civil Defence page: https://www.facebook.com/civildefencemanawatuwanganui/
For weather forecasting information please see www.metservice.co.nz
This is our last media statement for this event.

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