Whanganui firefighter Aaron Summerhays (back row, third from left) is flying out to New South Wales to assist in providing relief to areas suffering from flash flooding in the state. Photo / Supplied
Whanganui firefighter Aaron Summerhays (back row, third from left) is flying out to New South Wales to assist in providing relief to areas suffering from flash flooding in the state. Photo / Supplied
Whanganui firefighter Aaron Summerhays will fly to New South Wales to support the response to widespread flooding in the state.
More than 80 millimetres of rain fell between Sunday and Monday in several inland areas of the state, resulting in flash flooding.
NSW State Emergency Services took 462 calls forhelp over 24 hours, with people trapped by the sudden floodwaters.
Australian emergency services minister Steph Cooke said the state government asked New Zealand for assistance in the flood rescue efforts.
Fire and Emergency New Zealand (FENZ) national manager of response capability Paul Turner said a team of 12 people would arrive in Sydney on Tuesday to assist in a variety of support roles including operations, planning, public information, logistics, resources and air support.
"Our Australian colleagues have been doing a fantastic job over the past weeks dealing with such a significant flood response and we're happy to answer their call for support.
"Deploying overseas enables us to support our colleagues in Australia and provide valuable development opportunities for our people," he said.
Summerhays said the crew of Kiwi firefighters would move into the flood zones and provide relief to the communities affected.
As the flooding situation was still developing, he was not sure what specific work he would be doing once they landed, but it would involve assisting in operations and allocating resources to ground crews who were going into zones.
"Just making sure that whatever they're doing, that there's scope around them and resources, and working to our continual plan," he said.
"We're going to get more intel on that when we arrive ... but at the moment we just don't have that detail."
Summerhays has had previous experience in urban disaster relief as part of FENZ's Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) crew.
With them, he provided relief in the aftermath of the Christchurch earthquakes of 2010/11, the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami in 2011, and the Whanganui floods of 2004 and 2015.
FENZ said this would be the first time staff had been deployed to assist in a flood response since FENZ was formed in 2017.
Australian authorities warned more flooding was imminent for the region, with severe thunderstorms and damaging winds making their way through NSW from the Queensland border in the upper western districts right through the Central West and Riverina to the Victorian border.
A second FENZ team will deploy to continue support later in the month, arriving in Sydney on Thursday, November 24.
