Flooded Kaeo. Photo / Northern Advocate
People planning on building in Kaeo will have to meet stringent code requirements following flooding in the town, the Far North District Council mayor has said.
Some Kaeo residents face their second clean-up since March after storms ravaged the district this week.
"We would be very careful if
anybody wanted to build in Kaeo now," said mayor Yvonne Sharp.
"They're right there on the river and it is a tidal estuary and on a flood plane surrounded by high hills," she said.
Extreme weather events are likely to happen in the future and there isn't anything that can be done about that, she said.
Mrs Sharp did not rule out relocating the town but said that decision would not be "an easy call".
"It's not easy for folk to go and find another section and build another house somewhere else because most people have all their savings tied up in their house and we're not a very rich community.
"Relocating is something which there would have to be an awful lot of talking done about. The practicalities of it are pretty mind-boggling," Mrs Sharp said.
Mrs Sharp said the issue was not bought up at a council meeting yesterday because the council was still dealing with immediate relief was needed for Northland township still isolated.
She said the council might look at changing the minimum ground levels under the District Plan.
Where extreme weather has been taken into account:
North Shore
Proposed Plan Change 24 stipulates minimum floor levels in areas that could be flooded.
The plan change applies to houses in low lying coastal areas and requires prospective home builders to consult a professional with knowledge in building near the coastline. The North Shore district plan also requires people building new homes on the coast to take into account the distance between the house and the sea.
Rodney District Council
In 2005 the council commissioned a coastal inundation study which analysed the impact of a bad storm, during a high tide and taking rising sea levels into account. It found large areas on the East coast of Rodney could be flooded. The council has put in place minimum floor levels for properties within 50m of the mean high-tide mark. Houses built in areas that could be flooded have information published on their LIM.
