At-risk Pūtiki wants its own emergency response after flooding

Pūtiki is particularly prone to flooding. Photo / Bevan Conley

The flood-prone Pūtiki community wants to build its own emergency response to work alongside the district’s emergency management.

The Pūtiki Emergency Response Group was formed after a community meeting earlier in the year in the wake of flooding which has become a regular occurrence in the low-lying Whanganui community.

Tania Bailey told Whanganui District Council’s aspirations and projects committee on Tuesday that, in the short term, the group wanted to improve the emergency preparedness of the community.

She said a 200-year flood would block off Pūtiki, State Highway 3 and SH4, and if that happened all other catchments in Whanganui would be impacted.

“Civil defence will be stretched to capacity. Pūtiki needs its own emergency response.”

Bailey said the Pūtiki Emergency Response Group was asking the council for resourcing and training.

“Adequately resourced, we believe that we can provide immediate strategies and resources for local emergency management including refreshing the civil defence emergency response plan, training a group of first responders in civil defence emergency management and a resource container with emergency equipment located in Pūtiki.

“It’s likely we’ll need an annual contingency fund, and this is to maintain and replenish equipment and to keep the team operationally capable.”

The group wanted to work in collaboration with mana whenua, council and responsible agencies, she said.

“We don’t want to compete or replace anything but rather we want to complement and support the existing civil defence emergency management plan.”

Bailey said the project would build Whanganui’s overall emergency resilience.

“If Pūtiki’s okay, then Pūtiki Emergency Response Group can be deployed to assist elsewhere.

“I think with Cyclone Gabrielle fresh in our minds, planning and preparedness is essential.”

Group member Chris Shenton said in the May meeting, just days after flooding, “there was anxiety in the room”.

“Some of our whānau who were in harm’s way were rightly concerned and heightened emotionally about it as they faced the water lapping at their doors, so to speak.”

Shenton said the group’s medium-term goals were about climate adaptation.

“We don’t know all the answers as to what that’s going to be but we want to integrate our initiatives with the council and the other stakeholders as well.”

Council chief executive David Langford said the Pūtiki Emergency Response Group proposal aligned well with the current civil defence strategy.

“I actually see this as being a really good thing from a civil defence point of view,” he said.

“What you want in an emergency is a community that is well prepared to respond on their own.

“The best way we can build civil defence capability is not to build more into council but actually to get in behind community groups so they can build their own preparedness.”

Bailey said the project was an example of mana motuhake in action.

“This is a community determining what they need and seeking to develop relationships with local government and stakeholders. It’s through the strength of these relationships that we can build an enduring emergency plan that is likely to be implemented by our community.”

Zaryd Wilson has been a journalist covering the lower North Island for more than a decade. He joined the Whanganui Chronicle as a reporter in 2014 and has been editor since 2021.