New Zealand: Waikato Regional Council to Cope With Flood Risks

A new series of pamphlets has been produced by Waikato Regional Council to help property owners better manage the potential risks they face from river flooding.

“River flooding is the most common hazard we face in the Waikato,” said community safety programme manager Adam Munro.

“The new pamphlets are designed to help people identify what level of risk their individual properties face and what actions they may need to take to manage that risk.”

Mr Munro said the pamphlets have been produced following a rise in information requests and general enquiries about river flooding hazards. “In each of the past three years we’ve had more than 120 flood information requests on average.

“The likes of the insurance sector, real estate agents and the wider community have been more active in seeking information about risks generally. We suspect this may be to do with the number of natural disasters in New Zealand and overseas in recent years which have raised the profile of and need for better hazard management.

“Also, managing river flood risk is expected to become a more important issue in the region as the population increases over coming decades and the impacts of climate change become more evident.

“Our information can help existing property owners, developers and people wanting to buy new properties.”

The pamphlets cover owning flood prone property, buying flood prone property, the council’s flood warning services and the Kauaeranga River flood protection scheme Thames-Coromandel district.

They are available online at www.waikatoregion.govt.nz/riverflooding or hard copies can be obtained by calling regional hazards advisor Megan Dredge on 0800 800 401.

Besides the pamphlets, the council and its website have a wide range of other information about river flooding-related risks.

There is material available on general areas prone to potential flooding. From this people can get an idea of whether they need to seek more detailed information from the council. The council will help where it can but people may need to use private sector consultants to obtain a full risk assessment, said Mr Munro.

“Such an assessment may be needed if they want to get a solution tailor-made for their property that meets, for example, resource consent requirements.”

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Press Release, August 7, 2013