Flooding at Puriri Place, Kaitaia, during the 2003 flood. PHOTO / NRC
Lessons learned in a flood which devastated Edgecumbe earlier this year are being applied in Kaitaia.
On April 6, following heavy rain dumped by the remnants of Cyclone Debbie, part of a stopbank protecting Edgecumbe from the Rangitaiki River collapsed.
Residents had only minutes to escape from the floodwaters. Fifteen homes were destroyed and more than 250 damaged.
A report by Sir Michael Cullen stopped short of assigning blame, but did find the stopbank had flaws going back to the 1970s, a canal which was supposed to divert flood waters had never been completed, and more water could have been released from a dam to take pressure off the town's defences.
In the wake of the report the Northland Regional Council (NRC) is working with other organisations on measures to reduce the impact of flooding in low-lying Kaitaia.
Regional council chairman Bill Shepherd said most of Kaitaia was at risk because it was protected by stopbanks along the Awanui River which could be ''overtopped'' in a large flood.
The Awanui catchment already had the greatest number of river and rainfall gauges in Northland and the council had spent $350,000 a year since 2006 maintaining flood channels through Kaitaia, which included a major project last year to lower one spillway.
However, a number of recommendations from the Edgecumbe report were relevant so the council was putting them in place – and in some cases, bringing work forward - in vulnerable areas around Northland, especially Kaitaia.
One section of the Kaitaia stopbanks had overtopped during the storms of 2007 and had come close in 2003. The area between the Awanui and Tarawhataroa rivers was most at risk, Mr Shepherd said.
The council had also prepared an option to upgrade the Awanui River Flood Scheme in its Long Term Plan 2018-2028, which will go out for public consultation in March.
Meanwhile, the Northland Civil Defence Emergency Management Group is reviewing Kaitaia's community response plan for Kaitaia, and the town's alerting and evacuation procedures. A public education programme and warning signs are being prepared.
The Bay of Plenty Regional Council was criticised after the Edgecumbe flood for the lack of warning, with residents given just 20 minutes to evacuate.
Other measures taken by the NRC include upgrading the river gauge network, reviewing warning thresholds, stopbank testing, and upgrades to the Whangatane Spillway intake and the Mathews Park and Choke stopbanks.
The Awanui River Working Party, founded about 10 years ago, brings together the regional and Far North District councils, iwi, the Department of Conservation and other organisations.