The State of Emergency for the Whangārei District will be lifted at 12.30pm today, following improved conditions across the District.

An official transition to recovery will then begin for the next 28 days. This will support ongoing recovery work for both this weather event and the ongoing recovery from January’s severe weather event.

The decision to lift the State of Emergency was made this morning after consultation with regional leaders, emergency services, and welfare support agencies.

Whangarei District Council Civil Defence Emergency Operations Centre Controller John Burt said the District had fared relatively well compared with earlier weather events this year.

“We are pleased that Whangārei got off relatively lightly and that our infrastructure has held up well. There have been a few slips on local roads, but nothing compared to the January event. Most of the issues people experienced were around surface flooding,” Mr Burt said.

“The most significant damage was on State Highway 1 at Whakapara and NZTA will be providing further information about repairs and next steps for this.”

While the immediate emergency response phase is ending, anyone who still requires assistance or have ongoing needs related to this event is encouraged to contact Council. A recovery team is in place to provide support.

Recovery work from the January weather event remains ongoing, and any additional issues identified from this weather event will be added to this work.

“Council thanks the community for their cooperation and preparedness during this weather event as well as our roading contractors who were out in the weather clearing slips and trees and closing roads to keep people safe and our emergency responders who were called on to rescue people trapped in cars during the event,” said Mr Burt.

“We’d also like to acknowledge our local marae who once again opened their doors to whanau who needed a safe space to shelter.”

All local roads have now reopened apart from Peach Orchard Road where a bridge was damaged. It is expected to reopen later this week.

Kaiikanui Road is open again following flooding but will need to be closed for a short time later this week for storm repairs. We will keep the community updated on any changes to the pilot schedule on the Council website: www.wdc.govt.nz and on local Facebook pages.

Russell Road remains closed on the Helena Bay hill due to a large slip in the January weather event, and work has restarted on site today to continue to clear the site.

There were sewage overflows throughout the District during this event and people should avoid collecting shellfish for the next 28 days.

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