Waikato Regional Council has been awarded $2.286 million from the Local Government Flood Resilience Co-investment Fund towards three projects to improve the resilience of communities impacted by Cyclone Hale and Cyclone Gabrielle in 2023.
The funding includes: $940,000 towards river management within the Waihou Valley scheme, with a focus on gravel management and stabilisation/revetment works in the Kauaeranga River, Kirikiri Stream, Puriri River, Omahu Stream, Hikutaia River, Komata River and Ohinemuri river; plus $704,000 towards mitigating future flood risk in the Waipā, lower Waikato and west coast catchments by removing waterway obstructions and constructing at least 85 in-stream erosion control structures; and $642,000 towards the removal of storm affected vegetation (largely old poplar, willow and pine) from waterways in the Coromandel Peninsula and planting willows and poplars to help stabilise the riverbanks.
The funding is in addition to the $1.038m it received from the fund in October last year, towards river management works in the Coromandel Peninsula and to remediate damage to its Graham’s Creek catchment flood scheme in Tairua.
Integrated Catchment Management Director Greg Ryan said the summer 2023 flooding from the cyclones and frequent localised heavy rain left behind a substantial trail of damage.
“Within the Waihou Valley Scheme, for example, the cost of recovery and increased resilience of rivers is estimated at $1.26 million above what we’ve already spent and is expected to take a further two years.
“For all these projects, we need to do more than just the basic remedial works which will only withstand a flood of similar size of less,” he said. “To increase resilience against larger magnitude events we need to conduct full scale stabilisation of the riverbanks and remove gravel, bed loads and debris that were deposited in the channels during the extreme weather events.
