Waikato Regional Council response to Government inquiry

Waikato Regional Council has welcomed the findings of the Government Inquiry into the North Island Severe Weather Events of early 2023.

The report was released today (23 April 2024) by Minister for Emergency Management and Recovery, Hon Mark Mitchell.

It follows a nine-month inquiry led by Sir Jerry Mateparae GNZM QSO KStJ into the response to Cyclone Hale (8-12 January 2023); heavy rainfall in the Northland, Auckland, Waikato and Bay of Plenty regions (26 January to 3 February 2023); and Cyclone Gabrielle (12-16 February 2023).

Communities across the Waikato region were amongst those severely impacted, especially in the Waikato, western Waikato and Thames-Coromandel districts.

Waikato Regional Council Integrated Catchment Management Director Greg Ryan oversees the organisation’s emergency management capability. He said: “We will be closely reviewing the findings of this inquiry and looking to implement further improvements recommended by the panel to ensure the best outcome for Waikato communities during future severe weather events.”

He said the council had already carried out its own review of its response to the events and made changes as a result.

“During each of these events, we had staff working around the clock to ensure our flood infrastructure was working as it should to protect lives, property and lifeline utilities like power, roading and rail.

“We also had teams of people who played a significant intelligence role, supporting civil defence and other agencies with forecasting around what might happen next due to the heavy rainfall on already sodden ground. This included expertise around slip risk,” Mr Ryan said.

“Overall, our staff and infrastructure did a good job, but there were plenty of learnings for us. In particular, these weather events have shown that we won’t be able to build community resilience in the future if we continue to provide the same levels of service when it comes to our flood infrastructure.”

This had been reflected in proposed changes to the council’s Infrastructure Strategy, released at the beginning of April as part of its long term plan consultation, said Mr Ryan.

As a result of the council’s severe weather event review, completed earlier this year, Waikato Regional Council has:

• developed more staff to support the civil defence Group Emergency Management Office during activations
• been reviewing telemetry capability to minimise the risk of unnecessary failure
• improved forecasting methodology, in particular impact-based forecasting
• updated radio equipment so staff can be contacted no matter where they are in the region.

“We have significantly increased the number of people who’ve had emergency management training across all functions, which will enable us to better support civil defence.

“At the same time, we’ve been looking at training staff as controllers and recovery managers – even though it’s not legislatively required within a regional council – to increase our capability during the recovery phase.”