Animal rescue sanctuary destroyed by flood waters
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RNZ News
10 hours ago
- RNZ News
Cyclone Gabrielle inquest: Council opposed red weather warning
A red severe weather warning was only issued for Hawke's Bay on the day the cyclone made landfall. Photo: Supplied / Dawson Bliss MetService could have upgraded weather warnings for Hawke's Bay to red the day before Cyclone Gabrielle hit in early 2023 - but faced opposition from the regional council, according to the agency's chief meteorologist. The first phase of the inquest into the deaths of 19 people in the storm and Auckland floods is focusing on the warnings given to the public, and the emergency response. The weather forecaster issued a red severe weather warning for Hawke's Bay on 13 February, the day the cyclone made landfall. Chief meteorologist Chris Noble said MetService wanted to issue the warning the day before but Hawke's Bay Regional Council was opposed, based on confidence in its flood modelling. "One thing we've learned through this event is that red warnings are significant beyond just the flood modelling that might feed into that discussion and ultimately it's MetService's decision whether to go red or not." Noble said MetService's severe weather team had discussed upgrading to a red warning with the council's hydrology team on the morning of Sunday 12 February, ahead of its first issue of warnings about 10am that day. "The hydrologists were opposed to a red warning being issued, citing high confidence in their flood modelling which indicated no major concerns." MetService is tasked with communicating weather forecasts and warnings but does not undertake flood modelling. It upgraded the orange warning for the region from orange to red on Monday 13 February at 3.15pm. "I cannot say exactly what changed other than acknowledging the event was underway so the meteorologist would have been monitoring in real time... but I can't say for certain what led to that change from orange to red." Noble said in hindsight, MetService should have issued the red warning a day earlier, on the morning of 12 February. "It's definitely our preference that everyone agrees that it is a good idea to issue a red warning because of the significant impacts that we do understand it will have within communities," he said. "I would say this is probably touching on one of the biggest learnings for us from these events that ultimately, MetService has that decision to make and should make it if necessary, even if the other party doesn't agree." Matthew Mortimer-Wang, the counsel assisting the coroner, asked if there was enough information to justify a red weather warning. Noble said red warnings did not have a technical threshold of rainfall because they were designed to alert people to weather's extreme impact on their region and were linked to flood assessments. "It places everyone in a difficult position if those models don't adequately capture the intensity of an event at a specific location," he said. Hawke's Bay was one of the cyclone's worst-hit regions but there were no alerts or warnings before the Esk River burst its banks, flooding the entire valley in the early hours of 14 February. There have since been multiple inquiries into the actions of authorities before and during the cyclone. All of the investigations found failures in New Zealand's emergency management system. The various reports made more than 100 recommendations, including the creation of an early warning system for the public. The inquest on Tuesday heard how councils use a range of different information to predict flooding. Counsel assisting the families of the deceased Jane Glover asked why MetService believed the different flood forecasting systems were a "serious vulnerability". Noble said a range of agencies, MetService, NIWA and councils all owned weather stations but there were restrictions on sharing that data with one another. He also said the way in which the 16 regional councils develop forecast and model future flooding varied. "Across the country there's an uneven playing field for how flooding is forecast and modelled, we're aware that councils all have their own processes and that various councils will use different types of rainfall information to inform their flood prediction and their warnings," Noble said. "What we're really calling out there is a better linked up system that's using the same inputs to the warnings with the expertise feeding through to the flood modelling." Noble said that would be "advantageous across all of New Zealand, independent of the size of the council or their ability to pay for additional information". At the time of the cyclone, he said Hawke's Bay Regional Council used one single model from MetService for its flood modelling, while in other parts of the country NIWA assisted other councils with their flood predictions using a model different to that of MetService's. "It's just an example of how things are done differently in different regions and I think it would be a stronger system if the playing field was levelled and we all had a well integrated system using the same information right from the rainfall to the warnings to the flooding prediction itself." NIWA manager for climate, atmosphere and hazards Nava Fedaeff started to give evidence late Tuesday afternoon, about the data the institute provides about the weather and potential flooding. The National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research is a Crown Research Institute that as of this month, has merged with GNS Science to become Earth Sciences New Zealand. The inquest continues on Wednesday and hearings are set down for about six weeks, split between Auckland and Hastings. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
12 hours ago
- RNZ News
Mercury Energy increase Waikato River's water flow ahead of heavy rainfall
Waikato River on 28 January 2025. Photo: RNZ / Libby Kirkby-McLeod The amount of water flowing through the Waikato River is being intentionally increased by Mercury Energy, as the region prepares for expected heavy rainfall at the end of the week. Releasing water into the river creates additional capacity within the Waikato hydroelectric system. Waikato Regional Council's Regional Flood Coordinator Derek Hartley said late on Monday the Karāpiro dam started releasing water, which may continue until Wednesday evening, 2 July. "This has resulted in water levels downstream of Karāpiro rising. "To date there has been minimal impact on Waikato River pathways in Hamilton; however, it remains possible that some riverside paths will be inundated and the Grantham Street car park may also be impacted," he said. Hamilton city council said for safety reasons it had shut several river paths that could flood as they were level to the river. Parks and Recreations Unit Director Maria Barrie said these were Awatere Avenue to Ann Street; Te Hikuwai Reserve; path below Memorial Park; and Pine Beach to Fairfield Esplanade. Monitoring by the regional council showed saturated catchments across parts of the region, particularly in hill country and low-lying areas, which increases the risk of surface flooding, elevated river levels and land instability should further rainfall occur. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
17 hours ago
- RNZ News
Heavy rain warnings for Nelson, Tasman districts
The MetService has orange heavy rain warnings in place for the Tasman and Nelson districts for a large part of Thursday. Photo: MetService / Screenshot MetService has issued new orange heavy rain warnings for the already sodden Nelson and Tasman districts. The warning for Tasman, west of Motueka, runs from 3am Thursday to 9pm, and anticipates 120 to 150mm of rain, with more possible around the coast. The warning for the remainder of the district, as well as the Nelson District, Richmond and Bryant Ranges including the Rai Valley, and the Marlborough Sounds, is from 6am to 9pm on Thursday, and forecasts 80 to 100mm of rain about the Sounds and ranges. More than 300mm of rain fell in some areas late last week, leading to widespread flooding, slips and road closures . Two localised states of emergency remain in place as the clean-up continues. Community meetings will take place on Tuesday in Tapawera and Wakefield. MetService also had a heavy rain warning in place for Bay of Plenty, west of Whakatane from 8am on Thursday until 3am on Friday, with up to 120mm of rain forecast. On Tuesday morning parts of the South Island woke up to freezing temperatures. At about 6am Christchurch was -1.8C, with fine weather and a high of 11C forecast for the city. In Queenstown it was -1.1C early in the morning with a forecast of fine weather, light winds and a high of 9C. MetService showed the coldest temperature early Tuesday morning was Twizel at -5.2C at 6am, with a high of 4C forecast in Twizel. The warmest place in Aotearoa before 7am was Auckland's North Shore with 11.4C. MetService said it was a frosty start to the day for Canterbury and Marlborough, but overall Tuesday was forecast to be relatively settled apart from the odd shower or two. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
