Northland’s six-monthly outdoor tsunami siren test will take place at 10am on Sunday, September 28. Photo / Karina Cooper
Northland’s six-monthly outdoor tsunami siren test will take place at 10am on Sunday, September 28. Photo / Karina Cooper
The Village Arts Gallery will reopen the gallery on September 13 with their Spring exhibition, “Ngahere”. Over 20 artists from Hokianga/Te Tai Tokerau will present new work in various medium, celebrating our native bush. The show will open Saturday at 11am and run through to Sunday, October 19. The gallerywill be open Tuesday to Sunday, 10am-3pm.
Fire & Emergency staff recognised
The New South Wales State Emergency Service has announced that 44 Fire and Emergency New Zealand and 7 National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) personnel will be recognised with the Commissioner’s Unit Citation for their actions during the 2022 Flood Response. In November 2022, Fire and Emergency and NEMA personnel deployed to New South Wales to support the widespread flooding response in the Central West and Rivierina regions. Personnel assisted in a variety of support roles including operations, planning, public information, logistics, resources and air support. Among the personnel are three from Northland; Kaye Ahsam, national manager, women’s development; Kim Boyce, advisor community readiness and recovery; and Stephen Corin, volunteer support officer, senior firefighter & rural crew leader.
Tsunami siren test
Northland’s six-monthly outdoor tsunami siren test will take place at 10am on Sunday, September 28, coinciding with the start of daylight saving. The recently upgraded network of more than 90 outdoor sirens is tested twice a year to ensure it remains ready to alert communities in the event of a tsunami. During the test, sirens will sound for around two minutes, emitting the familiar siren tone followed by a voice message: “Test only, test only. This is a test of the Northland tsunami siren network; no action is required.” While the indoor siren network will not be activated during this test, residents with indoor sirens are encouraged to manually check their devices by pressing the test button, similar to testing a smoke alarm. To check if you live, work, or play in a tsunami evacuation zone, and to plan your safest route, visit: www.nrc.govt.nz/evacuationzones. To hear what the sirens sound like, visit: www.nrc.govt.nz/tsunamisirens.
The Kaikohe campervan dump station is temporarily closed, due to an ongoing blockage at the facility. The site was emptied and cleared for use earlier this week but has recently become blocked again. It is assumed the issue may be caused by items that should not be disposed of in dump stations, such as nappies and wet wipes. Users are reminded that only human waste and toilet paper should be disposed of at dump station facilities. Using them correctly helps keep these important services available for everyone. In the meantime, motorhome users are asked to use the nearest alternative dump station in Kawakawa, located on Waiomio St, just off State Highway 10.
