Coromandel cyclone recovery plan approved

Damage in Coromandel from Cyclone Gabrielle, February 14, 2023. Photo / Mike Scott

A cyclone recovery plan for the Coromandel has been approved by the Thames Coromandel District Council.

The plan includes 80 actions across a range of short, medium and long-term problems brought about by the extreme weather events in January and February this year.

Mayor Len Salt said the plan “sets the scene” for the recovery process and provided a pathway for future plans and projects.

The council was working with individual communities, iwi, regional and central government and other stakeholders.

“Our council’s recovery team, supported by our chief executive and leadership team, has emerged as a truly collaborative organisation that has brought together a wide range of central and local government agencies, community organisations and volunteers. We acknowledge and are grateful for their support.”

The plan is split into four broad areas: Business, infrastructure, community support and the environment.

The issues and associated actions were targeted mainly at meeting the intermediate-term needs of affected communities, such as clean-up, repairing the transport network, reopening tracks and accessways, repairing homes and properties, supporting the wider economy and rural sectors, and providing wellbeing support to those affected.

As part of the plan, a community relationships co-ordinator and two Social Navigators have been employed to support people with ongoing welfare needs arising from the severe weather events and to help them connect with other government and community agencies offering support. They are funded by a Department of Internal Affairs recovery grant.

The plan highlighted the need for a targeted mental wellbeing promotion campaign and community events to help communities that were affected by a “sense of overwhelm” brought about by economic impacts, road closures and isolation.

Salt said it was a living document and would be adapted in response to changing needs. It was approved at the council’s meeting on August 8.

The meeting also included a report from the council’s district emergency and crisis manager Garry Towler, on the response to date.

His report highlighted the impact of the successive storms and cyclones, from January 4 to February 27, that caused huge damage across the Coromandel. Over that seven-week period, 2.38 metres of rain fell. The area has continued to experience wet weather with a further two metres of rain pushing the year’s total rainfall to 4.44 metres by July 17 - more than twice the average annual rainfall in just over six months.

During January and February, there were 114 slips on local roads, and 210 slips on the state highway network, including the complete failure of State Highway 25A. Eighty private properties were made uninhabitable and there was an immediate -47 per cent hit to the Coromandel economy.

Towler said the council’s Emergency Operations Centre was fully activated for those seven weeks, manned by more than 60 council staff and 120 emergency partners and contractors, at times for 16-18 hours per day.

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