Wellington Region Flood Warning Service Review
https://archive.gw.govt.nz/wellington-region-flood-warning-service-review
Wellington Region Flood Warning Service Review
Background
New Zealand has a history of destructive floods that can be costly. Between 1968 and 2017, the country experienced more than 80 damaging floods.
Regional and District councils are responsible for managing flood hazards. They monitor rainfall, river flows, lake levels, build, upgrade and maintain flood protection works.
Greater Wellington Regional Council (GW) has formed a project team with members drawn from its Flood Protection, Environmental Science, Marketing and Communications Teams, and the Operational Readiness Team of Wellington Region Emergency Management Office (WREMO) to review the region’s Flood Warning System. The project, which is part of our Long-term Plan, is aimed at significantly improving flood warning systems in Wairarapa, Kapiti and Wellington by 2025.
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| Waiwhetu Floods, 2004 | |
Towards a safer future
Over time, flood warning system has emerged as a tool to manage flood risk. Implementing a flood warning system, which is 100% effective, can be a challenge. We are using this opportunity to provide a safer future for you and the future generations living in the region’s floodplains. Our plan is to put in place a collaborative and efficient flood warning service for you.
We plan to use pilots to develop and test systems, communications and messages, using the approaches recommended in the review. Progress will be reviewed after five years and following which, we will design and plan further improvements.
We had engaged GNS Science as an independent, external party with the necessary expertise and knowledge to carry out technical review of the flood warnings systems and assist us with our stakeholder engagement. Following the review, several work streams were identified.
Way forward
In addition to reviewing our existing flood warning systems, we will be developing and trialling a new system in identified areas of risk. We will be drawing on existing community resilience work that enables communities to be prepared for emergencies.
For example, Mangaroa River, Pinehaven and Waitwhetu Streams all have existing Community Response Plans developed by key leaders from your community. We will be using these plans as a starting point and develop the tools and systems. The aim is to offer better customised service by way of impact-based warnings to help you to make better decisions.
In early 2019, a group of four American students from the Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts came to Wellington to study flood warning systems in Lower Hutt.
The team developed a report on improving flood warning system for the Waiwhetu Stream.
The report, which noted that the community had little time to prepare when Waiwhetu Stream flooded in 2004, focussed on flood risk awareness and how the community members living near the waterway would like to be alerted if a flood were to occur.
With that report, our officers met with representatives of WREMO, MetService, Wellington Water, Friends of the Waiwhetu Stream – a community group working for a healthy ecosystem – and Hutt City Council on Thursday 11 April 2019 to discuss reviewing of flood warning systems.
