MEDIA RELEASE: Gita is coming – time to get prepared
Wellington Water is urging people to get prepared ahead of Cyclone Gita’s arrival in New Zealand. Potential pathways for the cyclone could see heavy rain and wind pummelling the Wellington region from Monday, and Wellington Water plans to activate its emergency operations centre from 6am Monday morning to monitor the situation.
“Right now we’re checking known trouble spots such as culvert and drain intakes that can get blocked, and organising standby crews in place for Monday,” said Gary O’Meara, general manager of Network and Customer Operations for Wellington Water.
“It’s also important for people to do what they can as well.
“Check and clear your gutters and drains, and have a look at the street drain nearest your house. Clear any litter or leaf debris. A blockage here can end up creating a major problem.
“Surface water will take the lowest pathway on its way to the sea. If you have a low point on your property, is it vulnerable to flooding or overloaded house guttering? Take some time on the weekend to prepare for a deluge; that could mean investing in a few sandbags or perhaps lifting boxes off the garage floor.”
Mr O’Meara also suggests people think about a contingency plan, including possible working from home in case of school closures.
“Back in November 2016, just after the Kaikoura earthquake, heavy rain closed both State highways, highway 58 and the rail network. At the same time, we had schools closing and parents trying to pick up children, along with service crews trying to help out. It was mayhem.
“It may not happen, and that would be great, but it doesn’t hurt to be prepared. Keep an eye on forecasts on Sunday and through the week and plan ahead.”
“Mr O’Meara had one final message. “Please, stay out of flood water. There’s a risk of manhole lids coming loose and we’d hate for anyone to be injured.”
Updates on Gita’s progress are at www.metservice.com...
Image: Cyclone Gita outlook (Source: MetService)
Poll: Would you rather: Christmas in summer forever or winter forever?
Just a bit of a fun poll to get you thinking.
If you had to live out your Christmas days, would you prefer it was a summer Christmas or a winter Christmas?
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63.3% Summer
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35.4% Winter
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1.3% Other - I'll share below
EMPIRE BUILDING TRUMP
So Donald Trump does not want to start any wars and is a peace maker.
And yet he is seriously seeking to annex the world's largest island, Greenland from Denmark, take over the Panama Canal from the sovereign country of Panama who have owned it since 1977 and even forthrightly suggesting that Canada ceases being a nation and become a state or series of states of the USA.
Greenland above everything else, harbours minerals vital for todays and tomorrows world and that is what probably attracts Trump most. His son is looking things over in Greenland as this thread is being produced. Climate change is also changing Greenland which despite its name is currently mainly covered in ice and snow all year round. Greenland has a population of 55,000.
Panama's major asset after tourism and services is the canal with a current revenue of $5 billion. It operates its shipping charges through an international organisation so that the USA gets an unbias deal for its ships etc that use the canal. Panama is a poor country on the improve and has a population of 4.5 million.
Denmark is a member of NATO. But Trump has threatened many times for the USA to pull out of this Europe-USA defence alliance and Greenland may be the straw that finally breaks the pact.
Canada is surrounded by the USA but it is so much unlike the USA and much more akin to Australia and NZ. In contrast to the USA, Canada is one of the happiest countries in the world and in total land area is the world's second largest.
NZ is going to come under the scrutiny of Trump and his henchmen/women. He will probably look to cut NZ away from its free trade arrangements with China with some kind of ultimatum.
New Year, New Questions You Won’t Solve!
I get smaller every time I take a bath.
What am I?
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