Source: Radio New Zealand
Two people are guided across dangerous floodwaters in Tasman on Friday 11 July, 2025, by members from Fire and Emergency NZ’s specialist water response teams from Christchurch and Nelson, using long poles to test what lies under the water. Supplied/ Fire and Emergency NZ
Specialist rescue teams are being deployed to Northland as the region hunkers down for the worst of the severe weather.
A red weather warning is in place, with the worst of the downpours expected to hit on Thursday afternoon.
Marae in the region have been opened for those in need of support.
Fire and Emergency (FENZ) assistant national commander Ken Cooper told RNZ it had prepared its response across the region, pre-deploying crews to where they would be most needed.
“We are pre-positioning our specialists water rescue team, and some urban search and rescue teams,” he said.
“These are severe situations that our people are going to be encountering so we want to ensure that we’ve got the right people in the right place.”
Cooper said 17 specialists would be deployed to Northland, while eight would be in Auckland.
FENZ had to pre-position crews strategically, he said.
“We get informed that it’s going to impact a very large geographic area, so it’s always very challenging for Fire and Emergency to pre-position exactly where a storm is going to hit and where the impacts would be.”
Fire and Emergency assistant national commander Ken Cooper. RNZ / Tom Kitchin
His advice for locals was to keep an eye on news and alerts put out by authorities, and to get out if the situation turns dangerous.
“If people feel that life and property is endangered or at risk then please do call 111.
“For that upper part of Northland, the intellegence we’ve got is there’s a large amount of rainfall over a very short period of time. I would certainly advise people to be prepared, if they’re in low lying areas or near rivers, be prepared to move,” Cooper said.
Meanwhile, residents in Northland were facing the oncoming storm.
Max Thompson lived in Mokau, near Ōakura, but the creek crossing to get to his house had been washed out.
He was staying in a campervan at Mokau marae said most people knew they could come to the marae if need be.
“These weather events have prompted our communities, our marae communities, to get into action and to build capacity for when they happen,” he said.
“I don’t want to sound too blasé, but I’m quite comfortable and confident that we’ll ride this storm out.”
Max Thompson is staying at Mokau marae near Ōakura. RNZ / Nick Monro
Robynne Cooper owned the Whangaruru beachfront camp and said the weather had made it a difficult summer season.
“We should still have quite a few campers out there,” she said.
“It hit us in peak season, so we’ve lost a lot of income and a lot of campers, that’s for sure. We’ve had pretty much 80 percent cancellation.”
Robynne Cooper said she was worried about the sustainability of the business.
“We’ll just have to wait and see what happens, I haven’t lost any sleep over it, I’m not that person that’s going to stress and kill myself with a heart attack, but it is going to be a very, very tough year that’s for sure.”
Whangaruru Beachfront Camp owner Robynne Cooper. RNZ / Nick Monro
Ngātiwai kaiwhiriwhiri Jude Thompson lived in Tūparehuia/Bland Bay, in the north of Whangaruru.
“It’s probably one of the safest areas on the flat. In saying that last time my house flooded, so I’ll probably be staying up quite a bit through the night just to see what happens here. Most of the communities out in this area last time were individually cut off for one reason or another, either through trees falling or through slips. So everybody needs to be ready to be independent and look after themselves.
“All of our marae have stood up and are just absolutely amazing and have everything that we need to keep our whānau safe.”
She said it would be a very long night. Rain had been falling throughout the day, but began to intensify once night fell. Her power went out around 9.30pm. As of 10.30pm, Northpower reported around 1500 homes without power, including in Aranga, Mamaranui, Kamo and Whangaruru.
Thompson said many residents were tired and quite anxious following January’s widespread and destructive flooding. Punarurku, to the west of Whangaruru Harbour, was hit with 285.5mm of rain over a day during the January floods. That was more than the approximately 260mm that typically fell over the area over the whole of summer.
January’s severe weather also caused a significant slip at the southern end of Whangaruru which would take months to clear, and had left those entering from the south during the day having to drive in convoy following a pilot vehicle.
“It’s quite a long road, it’s gravel, it’s windy, there’s some quite significant drop-offs, and it’s having quite an impact on people’s vehicles.”
The approach to the Ngaiotonga Bridge was washed out in January. Supplied / Whangaruru North Residents and Ratepayers Association
Many residents were very anxious about the forecast rain, and warnings about the incoming storm had left many on edge.
“People are anxious about this event and given it’s a red warning that does come with a risk to life so we have to be very vigilant to take it so seriously.
“We’ve seen since the event in January that the impacts on people’s mental health, the rise in anxiety, the psychosocial effects have been significant, right across Whangaruru and with our whānau who are up in Whangaroa who were very impacted as well.
“A couple of days ago when the forecast was communicated and as it’s got closer and we went to a red warning today, people are really, really anxious and feel quite triggered given what they went through.
“Some of our whānau arrived at the marae literally in just what they were standing in. They had lost absolutely everything. Everything had washed away and they were just standing in wet clothes. So to hear even the sound of rain since then … has been really difficult.”
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
