A Dunedin firm is helping power a regional flood warning upgrade.

Local company Hilo has manufactured sensors for 26 new water level recording stations currently being installed at Otago waterways, including Hoopers Inlet, Hawkesbury Lagoon and Kaikorai Estuary, to improve severe weather forecasting.

In a statement, Otago Regional Council coastal water quantity monitoring team leader Paul Hannah said the permanent installations were part of a wider engineering programme.

“The primary purpose is to improve resilience and operational effectiveness during flood events for Coastal Otago, Lower Taieri and Lower Clutha areas,” Mr Hannah said.

“They pack a lot of up-to-the-minute technology in a very small cost-effective package.”

The devices use downward-facing high-frequency electromagnetic waves to measure surface distances.

Data is transmitted automatically via inbuilt cellular modems, powered by long-life lithium batteries.

The increased information will benefit communities, especially with regard to infrastructure in low lying coastal areas.

Data gathered by the units will eventually be publicly accessible online.

The local rollout is funded by a share of $9.38 million from the government’s Regional Infrastructure Fund to upgrade early warning flood systems across the country.

Council science and resilience general manager Tom Dyer said the increased data flow would assist estuary and stream management.

“The sensors will enable better decision making around when river mouth opening is required, ultimately meaning better outcomes for communities through flood protection and the environment,” Mr Dyer said.

— Allied Media