Wednesday 5 February, 2014

Commemorating 10 years since 2004 floods

As the 10 year anniversary of the February 2004 floods approaches, Horizons Regional Council is taking stock of all work undertaken since 2004 to protect its communities from similar situations.

Horizons chief executive Michael McCartney says the floods of 2004 caused widespread damage throughout the Region.

“Our communities will always remember the 2004 floods as we have never seen a flood of that magnitude before,” he says.

“It’s estimated the economic impact on the Region was to the tune of $300 million, with over $24 million of this suffered by our erosion and flood control schemes. Another noteworthy figure is the 200 million tonnes of soil estimated to have been lost downstream, leaving over 300,000 hectares of our hill country severely eroded.”

Following the 2004 floods Horizons identified a number of areas for improvement in order to protect communities from future floods. Horizons is planning on showcasing this work at two community gatherings next weekend.

“As central Feilding was severely flooded in 2004, our first stall will be at the Feilding Farmers Market on Friday 14 February. The stall will display what happened during the event and what work Horizons has done since then,” says Mr McCartney.

“This will include an interactive flood puzzle, photos and video from the event and staff will be available to answer any questions. We will then take the stall to the Plaza shopping centre in Palmerston North on Saturday 15 February.

“We can’t wait to hear people’s stories from the floods and hope they come down to the Market or Plaza to check out all the improvements we have made.”

Following the anniversary, the display will be taken to Central District Field Days March 13-15 in Feilding. Horizons is also putting together a commemorative pull-out feature that will run in community papers throughout the Region from 17-20th February.

Ends

Editors note: The Feilding Farmers Market runs from 10am-2pm and the Plaza Palmerston North is open 9am-5.30pm.

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