The Otago Regional Council’s safety and resilience committee will tomorrow receive an update on the council’s flood warning system — and the improvements to it the council’s $150,000-a-year investment will bring.
The update, a report to the committee by natural hazards manager Jean-Luc Payan, said there would be an upgrade to existing flood forecasting models and the development of new ones.
Flood warning systems would be improved, including better text messaging and ‘‘ring lists’’.
There would be better information sharing with Emergency Management Otago and the public.
And there would be ‘‘improved and more extensive’’ assessments of the consequences of heavy rain in the region.
Dr Payan said those improvements would include evaluations of the extent, depth and velocity of floodwaters for a range of weather scenarios ‘‘including maximum credible events’’.
Recent improvements to the flood warning system included the installation of water level recorders at Glenorchy Lagoon and at the Glenorchy boat ramp at Lake Wakatipu, and a flow recorder in the Rees River — installed after a community request following a February 2020 flood.
A water level and flow recorder had been installed in the Clutha River near the Tuapeka River confluence and a rainfall station was installed in the Mt Teviot area in order to improve flood protection for Balclutha.
Forecasts, provided by MetService, were available for 12 locations along the region’s coast and would be used to provide early awareness of sea conditions that could cause inundation or erosion affecting infrastructure or properties along the coast.
Dr Payan said in July last year the Civil Defence and Emergency Management Group formally asked the Minister of Transport (then Simeon Brown, now Chris Bishop) to improve the radar coverage in the region through investigations into the feasibility of extending weather radar coverage through Central Otago and Queenstown Lakes.
‘‘This will strengthen our ability to safeguard communities and enhance our resilience against weather-related risks,’’ he said.
The costs associated with flood warning services by the council did depend, among other factors, on the number of severe weather events each year.
In 2021-22, the council spent $213,301; in 2022-23, $239,349; and in 2023-24, it spent $299,855, he said.
The council had operated a flood warning system for more than 25 years.
It operated around the clock and a duty flood officer was on call all the time, he said.
