Source: Radio New Zealand
A brown river raging in flood, in a gorge, during a storm. RNZ/ Nick Monro
Wild weather has once again brought flooding, damage and destruction to parts of the country, and uncertainty and stress over a far greater region – particularly those hit before.
There have been four red weather warnings – reserved for the most extreme events – and at least six extreme weather events so far this year, by RNZ’s count – and it’s only April.
Cyclone Vaianu over the weekend brought flooding and damage across much of the North Island, forcing evacuations, shutting roads and leaving many without power.
Christopher Luxon. RNZ / Samuel Rillstone
The prime minister says the response to Cyclone Vaianu has been far better than previous emergencies.
Christopher Luxon told Morning Report on Monday the system responded well – between local and central government as well as civil defence, iwi and hapū.
“This is the sad reality as we’ve dealt with more and more of these events, you know,” he said.
“Whether it’s the mayors, the Civil Defence, NEMA, you know, our first responders, the rural support, you know, there’s just been great collaboration and we’ve had a series of events that have often been similar size and we’re just so much more joined up and sorted.
“But I think I’m also very grateful, particularly in this event, the message went out very strongly and Kiwi families and households also took responsibility.”
Key roads in the eastern part of the North Island, State Highways 2 and 35, were frequently closed during and after major weather events, often by slips and flooding.
Luxon said iwi were having “conversations” about relocating from areas prone to bad weather and flooding due to climate change.
“They’re having those conversations with the elders who have been very connected to those areas, and that’s been a really positive thing.”
As for the 14 percent – around 675,000 – New Zealanders who currently live in areas prone to flooding, Luxon said it was time to “confront the brutal facts of the reality that actually they are going to be areas of New Zealand that we’re going to have to rethink over time how we manage that”.
“That’s why we’ve got to work on a national flood plan, national adaptation framework… make sure we’re not doing dumb stuff, for example, building back into flood plains.
“And we’ve seen a lot of that over multiple decades, you know, over the last 40, 50 years. Knowledge that existed in the ’50s and the ’60s about where not to build ends up getting built on the ’70s and ’80s, and lo and behold, we have a problem.
“So, we’ve just got to be much more strategic about how we deal with it and then embed resilience into everything that we’re doing.”
As an example, Luxon cited a new four-lane road proposed between Napier and Hastings with “a higher level of resilience and flood protection than we’ve seen”.
“We’ve put $200 million into stop banks and flood protection… that had huge benefits for many different communities.
“We’re working really hard on – we’re going to have a national flood plan for the first time ever by the end of this year. I know this stuff sounds like we should have had it for years, but we didn’t do the practical stuff.”
A response from the Ministry for the Environment released under the Official Information Act detailed that of the government’s claim of “over $1 billion since 2020” in flood protection spending, nearly all of it was committed by the previous government; this government’s contribution has been $200m through the Regional Infrastructure Fund.
Setting aside the $647.5m in one-off disaster recovery funding, the previous government committed $340m over three years to flood resilience.
The present government has also cancelled or scaled back a number of climate measures, including resuming oil and gas exploration, and in December rejected all of the Climate Change Commission’s recommendations to strengthen New Zealand’s emissions targets.
Luxon said New Zealand was not alone in facing climate challenges.
“In fact, many other countries are in the same boat. And you’ve got to think about it. There’s banks, there’s insurers, there’s councils, there’s central government, there’s homeowners and landowners. And there’s going to be multiple generations, they’re going to be dealing with these issues.
“So over time, how do we get much more knowledge data so that we can actually strengthen New Zealand and make it more resilient and not doing it? So for example, last flood I was up in Hicks Bay Way, State Highway 35… and it was interesting talking to the young Wahine leaders who are doing an amazing job and other emergency response leaders of iwi and hapu.
Treasury has warned of an 80 percent chance of another Gabrielle-scale event in the next 50 years.
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
