Northland tsunami warning: Dargaville safe during alert

Dargaville residents were safe and not told to evacuate amid Friday's tsunami risk.

Kaipara Mayor Dr Jason Smith says Dargaville residents were safe on Friday despite not being told to evacuate amid the wider tsunami risk.

Smith said Dargaville residents were instead told to exercise sensible precautions and keep away from the water, in line with Northland Civil Defence advice.

A Northland Civil Defence spokesperson said low-lying coastal areas along the whole of Northland's west coast should evacuate. But this did not include Dargaville.

About 5000 people live in Dargaville, with the centre of town protected by stopbanks along the banks of northern Wairoa River it fronts on to.

Tsunami evacuation zone maps show the northern boundary of Northland's west coast finishing near Ruawai – only 20km south of Dargaville along the northern Wairoa River as its flows into the Kaipara Harbour.

Ruawai township has tsunami sirens and is in part included in the tsunami evacuation zones.

Kaipara Harbour is the southern border of Northland's west coast and tsunami evacuation zone maps showing areas across the harbour and in Kaipara District Council's rohe are at www.nrc.govt.nz/evacuationzones.

Smith said the nature of the Kermadecs-generated tsunami meant the town was not at risk.

Dargaville was about 40km from the Kaipara Harbour entrance.

He said communities such as Kellys Bay, Tinopai, Pahi and Ruawai that were in these evacuation zones should evacuate.

He said a tsunami evacuation warning for Kaipara's west coast was unusual and a new experience for many, but this didn't mean it shouldn't be taken seriously.

Meanwhile on Kaipara's east coast, Mangawhai residents evacuating to higher ground faced significant traffic congestion, he said.

About 4000 people were in Mangawhai at the time of Friday's tsunami warnings, including a number Aucklanders who had come north to their baches to escape their city's level 3 Covid-19 lockdown.

He said Mangawhai Beach School students and staff were among the many who evacuated in the coastal town.

The school's several hundred students must cross a bridge over Mangawhai Harbour as part of evacuating along about 300m of road across flat land to reach their higher evacuation point.

Smith said Friday's events were new territory from which many learnings could be taken, and Northlanders had responded very well.

Northland residents have been praised for their response to the tsunami evacuation warning, but councils and Civil Defence say there are things that can be improved.

More work is needed on an evacuation plan to prevent the sort of gridlock that hit Whangārei as thousands fled the CBD, Whangārei Mayor Sheryl Mai said.

Also, four Far North tsunami sirens that experienced problems during the tsunami evacuation would be investigated, Far North Mayor John Carter said.

The former Minister of Civil Defence said investigation into the issues with these sirens would be part of a post-event debrief.

Te Kao, Te Paki, Te Hapua and Ngataki sirens on the Aupouri Peninsula not far south of Cape Reinga were affected by a Top Energy power outage.

Tsunami sirens are among essential alert technology in these isolated and remote Far North communities. Cape Reinga is New Zealand's closest mainland point to the
Kermadec Islands about 1000km to the north.