Source: Radio New Zealand
Supplied / Taranaki Regional Council
Repeat vandalism and theft from flood and weather monitoring stations in Taranaki is putting lives at risk, according to the Taranaki Regional Council.
The monitoring site on the Waiwhakaiho River near The Valley in New Plymouth has been vandalised three times since its installation in 2020, and twice in the last three months.
The lower Waiwhakaiho River gauge had been repaired and police were investigating the incident which occurred on 11 January at 1.20am.
Environmental data team leader Craig Pickford said the theft and destruction of monitoring equipment could seriously impact the timeliness of alerts to the public about rising river levels when the region experiences significant weather events.
“The Waiwhakaiho River is a particularly dynamic waterway and can change very quickly after heavy rainfall so we need to be able to rely on real-time data if the river is rising and could pose a threat to those living and working nearby.
“We saw last July just how fast it can change. We had to undertake repairs after a berm near Mitre 10 was washed away as the nearby gauge recorded 535m³/sec river flow.”
Pickford said the monitoring station was now being repeatedly targeted by thieves, with the most recent incident involving the door being ripped off and the loss of equipment.
“Our message to those committing these senseless acts is to stop and think about their actions, as these stations provide the crucial information we need to keep the public informed about when to get to safety in the event of a flood.”
The regional council worked with Civil Defence Emergency Management Taranaki to alert the public about potential flooding when the region experienced heavy rainfall which Taranaki rivers to rapidly rise.
Pickford said while these events were rare, TRC maintained a number of flood defence schemes and critical monitoring stations – including on the Waiwhakaiho and Waitara rivers – to protect homes and businesses in at-risk locations which had historically been prone to flooding.
“While we accept some monitoring stations are damaged by severe weather events, it’s hard to understand why anyone would intentionally put people’s lives at risk.”
Other monitoring stations had also been the target of vandalism and theft including the Waiwhakaiho station at Rimu Street and the Mangati station at SH3.
These sites were part of a region-wide monitoring network managed by the TRC which provided real-time environmental data including rainfall, river levels, wind speed, air temperature, water quality and river flow.
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
