Harihari floods: council to add rain monitoring for South Westland river
From local democracy reporter Brendon McMahon:
The West Coast Regional Council intends to add automatic rain monitoring equipment on the Wanganui River near Harihari after a series of damaging floods.
The fallout over a flood that swamped two dairy farms 12 days ago, was hot at the council meeting last week.
That was because the council had had a month of dry weather and low river flows to repair a hole in the northern bank protection scheme that was blown out in the previous flood, at Waitangi Weekend.
Councillors were briefed in-committee on a new protection plan for the Wanganui River last week, with a scheme to be presented at the rating district AGM next month.
Meanwhile, during the last flood the council was relying on hydrological data it receives from a site inland from Whataroa, about 35km to the south of Hari Hari, to anticipate and monitor river flows in the Wanganui.
The council currently does not have monitoring equipment on the Wanganui River.
Hydrology and engineering staff travel from Greymouth to watch it in an extreme rain storm - as they do for the Waiho (Waiau) at Franz Josef and other large rivers throughout the West Coast.
Council chief executive Heather Mabin said work for new river monitoring sites was ongoing and it was currently formulating "a wish list" but that would depend on funding.
The overnight heavy spell of rain in the Wanganui River headwaters 12 days ago sent "a half-flood" down the river, widening and doubling a 100m hole in the protection bank on the true right that had opened up in early February.
Wanganui Rating District spokesperson and councillor Andy Campbell, one of two affected farmers on the true right of the Wanganui, reported 90mm of rain the night of the flood.
He told the meeting he believed most of the rain that swelled the river was "backcountry heavy rain".
The rain monitor site further south and inland of Whataroa had about 130mm.
Mabin said she understood a new gauge on the Wanganui might be a Civil Defence initiative but the council was also working on a plan to expand its hydrological monitoring work.
Following the meeting Mabin said the Wanganui was "at the top of the list".
It was part of work council began when it put in for about $200,000 of 'shovel ready' Government money for new Buller River monitoring and associated preliminary work around the flood defences for Westport township.
"It's actually a piece of work we've already started."
She was unsure of the history of monitoring at the Wanganui and the previous decision making around installing equipment there. However, she had asked the relevant council departments to look at potential costs from within the current budgets to broaden the work.
River monitoring data was "a key piece of information" not only for the council but the affected communities.
She noted the Wanganui River was a strong case but she would not be drawn on other potential sites.
At this stage the cost per site was yet to emerge but aside from the equipment, having safe access to particular sites was likely to be a significant factor. This included vehicle or walking track access and the practical logistics of physically getting down to particular monitoring sites, Mabin said.
"Often, what I'm hearing, it's the access ways."
Another significant factor was having the connectivity to relay information back from the sites - a significant challenge with no cellphone coverage to remote sites on the West Coast.
"The cellphone coverage is key unless we can tap into some other system."
Worst Xmas ever?
There's a a lot of planning that goes into Christmas day and sometimes things just don't go to plan. But it can be a good thing - a family mishap or hilarious memory that you can laugh about in Christmases to come.
Whether you burnt the dinner or were stranded at an airport...
Share your Christmas mishaps below!
⚠️ DOGS DIE IN HOT CARS. If you love them, don't leave them. ⚠️
It's a message we share time and time again, and this year, we're calling on you to help us spread that message further.
Did you know that calls to SPCA about dogs left inside hot cars made up a whopping 11% of all welfare calls last summer? This is a completely preventable issue, and one which is causing hundreds of dogs (often loved pets) to suffer.
Here are some quick facts to share with the dog owners in your life:
👉 The temperature inside a car can heat to over 50°C in less than 15 minutes.
👉 Parking in the shade and cracking windows does little to help on a warm day. Dogs rely on panting to keep cool, which they can't do in a hot car.
👉 This puts dogs at a high risk of heatstroke - a serious condition for dogs, with a mortality rate between 39%-50%.
👉 It is an offence under the Animal Welfare Act to leave a dog in a hot vehicle if they are showing signs of heat stress. You can be fined, and prosecuted.
SPCA has created downloadable resources to help you spread the message even further. Posters, a flyer, and a social media tile can be downloaded from our website here: www.spca.nz...
We encourage you to use these - and ask your local businesses to display the posters if they can. Flyers can be kept in your car and handed out as needed.
This is a community problem, and one we cannot solve alone. Help us to prevent more tragedies this summer by sharing this post.
On behalf of the animals - thank you ❤️