Wednesday 19 April

Trees worst affected by storm

Thursday evening’s storm has caused a lot of widespread damage to public trees within the city and across the district.

Council contractors have indicated that this is the most significant damage to public trees caused by a weather event in the last 20 years.

“As a result, our arborist contractors have worked tirelessly over the weekend to prioritise and address issues caused by trees,” says community and recreation manager Andrew White.

“Many public trees have fallen, many have been removed already due being severely damaged.”

“We expect many more to need proactive removal over the coming weeks.”
Council’s gardens team and contractors were kept busy picking up fallen branches in the Botanical Gardens on Friday morning.

“It's still messy with lots of twigs and leaves around, but it's safe. Branches have been left on the side of the path for the arborist to pick up.”
A tree had fallen blocking the road on Titirangi (Kaiti Hill), while the road had been cleared, arborists will need to return to cut up and remove the trunks and branches.

In Mangapapa Reserve a large tree was uprooted toppling onto and damaging the public toilets. Work to remove the tree expected today.
Additionally, there are some very large Willow trees that have come down near Alfred Cox Skate Park. All four of these Willows will need to be removed over the next week.

Mr White says Council are currently prioritising the remedial work.

“Our priority is to mitigate any high risk trees and ensure roads and footpaths are clear from fallen debris.

“Once these priorities are addressed, the clean-up of fallen branches will continue. This is expected to take the rest of this week and perhaps into next week.

Council advises people to report any fallen trees or debris in public places to customer services on 06 867 2049 of fill out our online eFix form.
“We’ll ensure these are on the radar of our contractors. We also ask people to be patient as we endeavour to address issues with safety as our key focus.”

ENDS

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