After a wet night the sun is shining over Whangārei and the Hundertwasser Arts Centre this morning. Photo / Michael Cunningham
Northland’s State of Emergency has been lifted after intense rain expected overnight didn’t eventuate.
The State of Emergency — the region’s first for a weather event since the devastating Far North floods of 2007 — was declared early yesterday afternoon and officially lifted at 10am this morning.
Northland Civil Defence Emergency Management group controller Graeme MacDonald said emergency declarations are normally for a seven-day period but the law allowed them to be extended or ended early.
The decision to declare an emergency was made in consultation with stakeholders and elected officials as a precaution ahead of predicted extreme winds and rainfall.
The MetService’s red heavy rain warning, severe thunderstorm watch and strong wind watch for Northland had all been lifted as of 4am today, and no major flooding or damage had been reported overnight.
The reason for declaring a State of Emergency was to give Civil Defence and emergency responders extra powers, for example to evacuate endangered buildings.
“As it eventuated, these powers were not required and there is no need for the emergency declaration to continue.”
MacDonald thanked Northlanders for their understanding and preparations.
“For our partner agencies — emergency services, councils and contractors, health and welfare agencies, community groups, electricity network and telecommunications providers, community groups and iwi — it has been one of the biggest exercises in advance preparation that I can recall in Northland.”
“Police, Fire and Emergency, Hato Hone St John and NZ Defence Force all brought additional personnel and equipment into Northland and there was a strong presence of responders in some of the locations that have historically been the first to be cut off by flooding,” he said.
Yesterday’s emergency declaration was communicated via an emergency phone alert. To minimise disruption a second alert was not sent today to notify people the State of Emergency had been lifted.
MacDonald said surface flooding, slips and downed trees remained in some areas, and State Highway 1 over the Brynderwyns was still closed.
An overnight slip had also reduced the Kaiwaka-Mangawhai detour route to a single lane at Lang’s Beach but contractors were on site and expected to finish clearing it this morning.
“Aside from roading conditions, there are no restrictions on travel but please continue to drive to the conditions today and look out for any hazards on the road.”
Civil Defence had not requested any school closures so parents should contact schools directly for information as to which were open today.
Around Northland many marae stayed open all night in case anyone needed refuge — including Morehu Marae, by the Whangape Harbour in remote, flood-prone Pawarenga.
Caretaker Elizabeth Pickering said the marae doors were open all night as a precaution for whānau who might be affected by heavy rain or flooding.
“There was no need for anyone to evacuate... nobody went in and everything was okay.”
Pickering said it was “so awesome” the bad weather subsided before anyone in the close-knit Pawarenga community had to seek shelter.
“The tide was low, the wind was the problem. Even the rain was okay,” she said.
Meanwhile, at Ōakura, on the east coast north of Whangārei, three families evacuated to Mōkau Marae as a precaution because their homes were at risk, Ngātiwai chief executive Hūhana Lyndon said.
Coordination between iwi, government organisations, Civil Defence and the Crown was key to preparing for the adverse weather.
“That mahi tahi worked really well,” Lyndon said.
Some holiday home owners in the area even offered their houses as safe haven evacuation sites for locals, she said.
While the rain was nowhere as heavy as expected, the wild weather did cut power and telecommunications in some areas.
In total about 1800 Far North households lost power during the two-day storm. The biggest outages were north of Kaitaia, the Waimā area west of Kaikohe, and the Oromahoe area south of Kerikeri.
As of 2pm on Wednesday fewer than 10 homes remained without power in Herekino.
Meanwhile, a large slip about 8km south of Kaitaia cut phone and internet services to large swathes of North Hokianga by severing two vital fibre cables.
The areas affected included Broadwood, Pawarenga, Panguru, Motuti and Herekino.
Spark spokeswoman Samantha Smith said the fibre outage, which occurred about 3.15pm on Tuesday, had affected the company’s Hokianga cell tower, as well as a Rural Connectivity Group (RCG) tower in Broadwood.
The RCG site provided services for all three mobile network operators.
A telephone cabinet in Broadwood, which provided copper landline services to some homes in the area, had also been affected.
Vodafone spokesman Matthew Flood confirmed two rural cell sites, in Broadwood and Herekino, were down. As of noon on Wednesday technicians were on-site at Broadwood and being sourced for Herekino.
Chorus spokesman Rory O’Sullivan said the landslip and damaged cables were inspected late on Tuesday night but continued heavy rain made it unsafe to carry out immediate repairs.
Crews were back on site at 7am on Wednesday and managed to restore connectivity by 4pm.
According to Northland Regional Council rainfall data, the wettest place in Northland in the 24 hours to 7am this morning was Marsden Pt with 83.6mm of rain.
That was followed by Wiroa Rd near Kerikeri with 82.5mm and Wekaweka Rd in South Hokianga with 79.5mm.
The highest rainfall total for the past seven days was recorded at Hakaru, between Kaiwaka and Mangawhai, with a whopping 302mm.
The next wettest places were Kerikeri’s Wiroa Rd (290.5mm), Brynderwyn (263.5mm), Puhipuhi (248.5mm) and Glenbervie (243mm).
According to MetService, the highest rainfall intensity on Tuesday night was 30mm/hr recorded in Whangārei between 10 and 11pm. Anything above 6mm/hr is regarded as heavy rain.
The strongest wind gust recorded in Northland in the 24 hours to noon on Wednesday was 110km/h. Kaitaia recorded gusts of 83km/h and Whangārei 74km/h.
MetService meteorologist Jessie Owen said Northlanders could expect more rain in coming days, but nothing at warning levels, before the weather cleared early next week.
Saturday was looking “okay” but another front was due to pass over Northland on Sunday, bringing more periods of rain. By early Monday — Waitangi Day — the weather should start to improve.
“All the warm, moist air should be cleared out by then. We might see some more rain on Monday morning but it should clear later in the day,” she said.
It was a quiet night for Northland firefighters who had been prepared for a flood of weather-related callouts.
Fire and Emergency NZ (Fenz) Northland district manager Wipari Henwood said extra staff were on duty — including all 36 members of the Kaitaia Volunteer Fire Brigade — but weather-related issues were minor.
There was just one callout after midnight and that was to assist ambulance staff at Mangonui at about 3.30am.
Urban Search and Rescue teams on standby in Northland were heading back to Auckland today for possible redeployment to the Bay of Plenty, he said.
Fenz also had extra staff on hand further south.
”We had extra teams on duty in Whangārei and we had a close liaison across the boundary with Waitemata in case either side got cut off, but none of that eventuated,” Henwood said.
He was pleased with the “great effort” from all emergency services preparing for the weather event.
”Having that declaration in place just raises the awareness of the public, let alone giving us extra powers,” Henwood said.
While the wild weather left relatively little physical damage, it dented the Bay of Islands economy when four cruise ships — Majestic Princess, Silver Muse, Regatta and Viking Neptune with a combined 5483 passengers — were forced to abandon their visits on Monday and Tuesday.
Northland harbourmaster Jim Lyle said only the small cruise ship Le Laperouse, with 184 passengers on board, was able to enter the Bay on Monday.
The ship took shelter behind Russell but as conditions deteriorated Lyle had to ask the captain to leave by noon instead of the planned 5pm, which meant passengers’ shore excursions had to be cancelled.
Otherwise, the effects of the weather were no worse than many of the winter storms that hit Northland, he said.
Passenger ferries in the Bay of Islands were also cancelled on Monday and Tuesday.
National roading agency Waka Kotahi said State Highway 1 between Waipū and Brynderwyn remained closed this morning, and caution was required on SH10 just south of Totara North Rd due to an underslip. A temporary speed restriction was in place in the area.
The only local road closures yesterday were on Waipū Gorge Rd in Whangārei district, part of Russell Rd at Whangaruru and Maromākū-Tōwai Rd in the Far North.
Waipū Gorge Rd was still closed this morning but has since reopened. However, Hayward Rd in Maungakaramea is now closed due to flooding and a fallen tree.
Oparakau Rd and Tokatoka Rd in Kaipara District are also temporarily closed. Residents are still able to exit Oparakau Rd at either end, although it is blocked by a fallen tree.
Another 10 roads around the Whangārei District were affected by the weather but were passable with caution, including Russell Rd. Both lanes have reopened on Cove Rd, where there had been a slip.
In Kaipara, Child Rd and Valley Rd were restricted to 4WD access only, Pebblebrooke Rd was down to one lane due to a slip and caution was advised on Taipuha Sett Rd due to flooding.
Maromākū-Tōwai Rd re-opened this afternoon after it was closed due to flooding too deep even for 4WD vehicles. However, Opahi Rd (also known as Opahi Station Rd) became impassable due to flooding. Flood waters were expected to recede this afternoon.
Another eight roads in the Far North were passable with caution, including one affected by an overslip.
Matawaia-Maromākū Rd and Pokapū Rd are passable only by 4WD. Several other roads in the district are also affected by slips, fallen trees and flooding. Caution was advised on Commerce St in Kaitāia due to surface flooding.
As of 9am this morning Wekaweka Rd, at Waimamaku in South Hokianga, was reportedly blocked by a slip but roading crews were still on their way to investigate.
A number of schools around the region remain closed today but are due to reopen on Thursday.
They include Huanui College near Whangārei and Pompallier Catholic School and Pukepoto School in Kaitaia.
Kaitaia College, Kaitaia Intermediate and Kaitaia Primary are all closed today with updates expected this afternoon.
Awanui Primary School is also closed.
Kamo High School is open today to Year 13s as well as Year 12 and 13 prefects.
Whangārei Intermediate, Whangārei Boys’ High School, Kamo Intermediate, Tikipunga High School, Onerahi School, Mangonui School and Taipā Area School are all open.
Yesterday’s State of Emergency was the first for Northland since July 10, 2007, when emergency powers were invoked in the Far North after the district was hammered by its second major storm in five months.
Many areas received a month’s worth of rain in 12 hours with Kāeo recording 273mm in one day. More than 80 homes were left uninhabitable, mostly around Awanui, Totara North, Kāeo, Matangirau, Pupuke and Whangaroa. The State of Emergency was lifted three days later.
A State of National Emergency was declared on March 25, 2020, but that applied to the whole country and was due to the Covid-19 pandemic. It was extended six times and finally lifted on May 13, 2020.
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