Whakatane District update - featuring silt warning, and call to delay trips to waste transfer station
• Please don’t hose silt and mud down the drains
• Whakatāne Transfer station – please delay your trip
• Whakatāne Civil Defence Centre shifts to Edgecumbe
• Power supply update.
Whakatāne District residents and businesses – including those in Edgecumbe – are strongly urged NOT to hose or wash mud and silt into drains and the stormwater system as the post-flood clean-up continues.

Civil Defence Controller Paula Chapman says it is understandable that residents will want to wash mud from homes, driveways and gardens. “However mud and silt in the system may block pipes and cause flooding when further rain comes.

“This message doesn’t just apply to Edgecumbe – the whole district’s stormwater system depends on it being free of mud and silt.”

Residents are advised to pile mud and silt on the berms outside, or near, their properties. It will be collected over the next few days.

Whakatāne Transfer Station is full – please don’t visit today
The Whakatāne Transfer Station is full of rubbish and debris – mostly storm-related – and residents are urged to delay their deliveries until tomorrow at the earliest to allow the staff to clear today’s input and make more space.

Civil Defence Centres transition to Edgecumbe from 12 noon today
The Civil Defence Centre that has been operating in the Whakatāne Memorial Hall will today (12 midday) transition to Edgecumbe – at the Edgecumbe Hall contact centre. All current services will continue to be available - residents should go here for assistance in the first instance.

Rautahi Marae Civil Defence Centre will transition to Edgecumbe tomorrow (Sunday) at 12 midday.

Tankers for temporary water supply
Tankers of drinking water will be at the following locations by 3pm today – people are asked to bring their own containers to fill:
• Rūātoki – at Rūātoki School
• Tāneatua – by the school, and by the skate park
• Waimana – by the shops
• Edgecumbe – tankers by the Riverslea Mall and by the War Memorial Hall.

Electricity supply:
Horizons Energy is continuing to work to restore power to outlying areas of the district following the passage of Cyclone Cook. While some 20,000 properties were without power yesterday, as of this morning the number was reduced to 1500 with further properties expected back on today.

Water, sewage and power is back to normal in Whakatāne town – but please continue to conserve water – and do not flush if you are elsewhere in the district:
Whakatāne District residents and businesses (except those in Whakatāne town, Coastlands, Ōhope and Matata) are urged to continue to conserve water until power is fully restored to pump stations around the district (which will enable reservoirs to refill). Residents are also urged to flush toilets sparingly until wastewater pump stations are back in action.

Although water has been restored to much of Edgecumbe, we are continuing to ask people to conserve water as the network remains fragile, and a boil-water notice remains in place.

The boil-water notice also remains in place in Tāneatua.

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