The people of Nelson and especially residents of the Tasman district, which remains in a state of emergency, are reeling after a second burst of intense rain late last week turned rivers and creeks into torrents, flooding valleys and properties.
Devastation is a word which is sometimes bandied about lightly as just another eye-catching noun to make someone click on a story.
But in the case of Tasman, devastation is the correct word. The destruction and damage is overwhelming, and the wreckage and ruin will be properly revealed once the floodwaters recede and the real extent of siltation is known.
Dozens of people remain in emergency accommodation and assessments are yet to be carried out on hundreds of properties. Roads remain closed and there are fears for when the next rain event hits, given significant damage to stopbanks around the district.
Locals are stunned by the flooding double-whammy. Tasman Mayor Tim King says it is too difficult to say which areas are worst hit, with massive effects on businesses, crops and farms, lifestyle blocks and forests.
What may have been a clean-up job after the first flood has turned into something more akin to a complete rebuild, Mr King says.
The amount of rain which has fallen in the region is bewildering. Nelson City, which was not the worst affected area, has already had more than twice its usual rainfall by this time of the year. In the Tasman district, the council says there has been half a year’s rain in just a fortnight.
Given the scale of these events, it is fortunate lives were not lost as the flooding hit. MetService had issued orange heavy rain warnings for the first storm and upgraded it to a rare red warning for last week’s event.
Unfortunately, the rhythms of nature and the weather are not ours. Two such systems in two weeks beggars belief, but it reflects the extra energy caused by the warming atmosphere and particularly the extremely warm oceans around New Zealand for this time of year.
It is difficult to say with any certainty how much more likely these twin events were because of climate change, but its influence will almost certainly have affected their intensity.
There are already concerns insurance companies will stop providing coverage for homeowners who live in high-risk flood zones. Last week, a group recommended to the government that people should shoulder responsibility for buying homes in flood zones and not expect any buyouts after future flood events.
This may seem a draconian move. While we see both sides of this issue, it is inarguable that signals somehow need to be sent that, as our climate continues to change and storms become more frequent and severe, some retreat of communities will be necessary from areas most at risk.
In the meantime, councils could do more to stop developers continuing to build new homes on hazardous coasts and flood-prone land.
A month to remember
Two significant anniversaries of quite different events have passed by in recent days.
Proving that things weren’t always better in the past was the 40th anniversary last Thursday of the French government-authorised bombing of the Rainbow Warrior, a Greenpeace flagship, in Auckland Harbour.
Probably the most disgraceful attack on New Zealand soil by a so-called ally, the act of state terrorism killed photographer Fernando Pereira. Two French spies, Alain Mafart and Dominique Prieur, were later arrested but released after France threatened an embargo against Kiwi exports to the EEC.
The whole appalling affair, a covert plot to exact revenge on Greenpeace for protesting against French nuclear testing in the Pacific, seriously damaged relations between New Zealand and France.
Happier memories with the 40th anniversary on Sunday of the gargantuan Live Aid concert, in London and Philadelphia, which raised more than $US140 million for famine relief in Ethiopia.
Maybe it’s time for another global concert to support those most in need around the world?
