Key infrastructure to be assessed in Stratford after ex-Cyclone Gita

Stratford Mayor Neil Volzke

Stratford mayor Neil Volzke has called for council's key infrastructure assets to be risk assessed following ex-Cyclone Gita.

During last week's ordinary council meeting, Neil presented a report outlining the effects of the cyclone which caused havoc throughout the district in February.

Neil said in New Plymouth where large parts of the district lost its drinking water supply which highlighted the need to have contingency plans for essential services and "robust risk mitigation measures".

"With this in mind, I believe it is an appropriate time for the Stratford District Council to review its risk assessments of key infrastructure items to ensure we are as prepared as we can be should disaster strike."

Council staff will undertake a risk assessment on the district's infrastructure assets relating to water, wastewater and roading.

Neil said it was the second time in three years the district had been been involved in a regional Civil Defence emergency.

"On this occasion we were fortunate to have ample forward warning that the aftermath of Cyclone Gita was going to strike the region.

"The forward warning allowed time for many people to take protective action by securing down outdoor furniture and equipment to minimise the risk of damage where possible, and gather the household items needed in a Civil Defence emergency."

Damage was widespread throughout the district with falling trees and loss of power and phone leading to large scale disruption..

"While the roads were cleared relatively quickly, the power outages lasted for more than a week in some places. Once again these communities proved to be very resilient and the people in general improvised and coped well."

Neil said roading infrastructure damage was not overly significant but there was a huge amount of work to be done clearing trees and branches.

"In excess of 50 road locations alone had been identified for tree removal. In the urban areas trees fell down and branches were strewn about but without too much damage.

There have been multiple minor damage reports to private property, but we came through as well as could be expected."

Chief executive Sven Hanne told the Stratford Press councillors will have an opportunity to provide any feedback on the risk assessment before it goes on to be reviewed. This review will take into consideration any new information available from separate reviews undertaken by Civil Defence and other agencies.

"This information will collectively be applied to all assets to identify any changes required to prepare for any possible events and their likelihood. We will also use improvements in our GIS system since the last review to do a more comprehensive criticality assessment of all assets."

Sven says while the council's review will focus on local assets, another review by Civil Defence will cover "inter-dependency". This will look into how the breakdown of one service like power has a flow on affect to other utilities like water, communication and transport.