Our Mayor Len Salt hosted Civil Defence Minister Kieran McAnulty and representatives from Waka Kotahi and the National Emergency Management Agency in the Coromandel today to have a look at the damage the recent series of storms has inflicted on our roading network and property.

Minister McAnulty was briefed on the emergency response from our Civil Defence Controller Brian Carter and visited our Emergency Operations Centre, in Thames.

Minister McAnulty also spoke to iwi and community health leaders including representatives of iwi-based health provider Te Korowai Hauora O Hauraki and also John McEnteer of the Hauraki Māori Trust Board. They discussed the welfare and community response efforts, as some communities are semi-isolated and about six properties have been damaged to some extent.

With calmer weather forecast after Friday morning, welfare issues are becoming the focus of the recovery effort, alongside repairing road and property damage.

Mayor Len and Councillors were able to share information about how the roading damage has affected local businesses, what issues they were dealing with and what support and assistance would be needed.

With long-term damage to some key roads, connectivity and supply chain issues were also discussed with a view to building further resilience into the roading network to support the local economy.

“We went up to the SH25A site today,” says Mayor Len, referring to the major underslip that has taken out a section of the Kōpū-Hikuai Road. It gave the Minister a really good oversight of the challenges that we face as a community. We had a very constructive discussion and we know there is a lot of work to do going forward. We look forward to hearing back on some positive solutions for our community,” says Mayor Len.

Minister McAnulty says he was impressed by the emergency plans that are in place. “The local Civil Defence here in the Coromandel are incredibly proactive. They have a plan for health delivery, they have plans to reconnect and keep people connected.”

Meanwhile, our Council staff are currently gathering initial data and evidence from businesses and industry sectors around the Coromandel, so we have a full and clear picture of what is needed to help work through logistical, supply chain and contingency issues.

We’re also working on arranging stakeholder forums with our business sectors in the next few weeks, so we can hear first-hand from industry on options and ideas to help with recovery and ongoing resilience.

Alongside this we are working with our Regional Economic Development Agency Te Waka, our Regional Destination Management Agency Destination Hauraki Coromandel, and government agencies about what support and assistance can be provided – including any subsidies and welfare and assistance packages.

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