Craig Mackle admits it has been a weird feeling being the mayor-elect for this week’s major weather events.
While Mr Mackle was re-elected a third term as Kaikōura mayor by a large majority, he is not due to be sworn in until Wednesday, October 29, meaning he did not have the power to declare a civil defence emergency.
Severe winds and dry conditions led to multiple fires breaking out around the same time across the northern part of the Kaikoura district on Tuesday afternoon.
It was followed by severe wind yesterday, with trees uprooted, power outages and State Highway 1 closed for long periods.
With no mayors sworn in, Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell stepped in on Wednesday and declared a state of emergency for the Canterbury region.
‘‘It does feel weird. Everyone is looking to you as though you are mayor, but you haven’t been sworn in,’’ Mr Mackle said.
‘‘It’s something to think about going forward.
‘‘They (emergency services) still get you in there for briefings and they do want your views, so you’re not left on the shelf.’’
This morning after the winds had died down, Mr Mackle said he was at the Emergency Operations Centre helping to feed fire crews before they headed back out to the front line.
‘‘It is a lot calmer than was - there’s just a bit of a breeze,’’ he said.
‘‘Fire crews are dampening down hot spots and we’ve got teams out there cutting down trees which have burned from the inside out.
‘‘There’s still a lot of clean-up work to do and people to look after.’’
Fire and Emergency NZ reported at least 14 rural buildings, including five homes, had been destroyed.
Abour 20 people spent Tuesday night at a temporary evacuation centre at the Takahanga Marae, but there were no reports of fatalities or injuries.
By Friday morning, traffic was flowing through and the town remained open for business, so Mr Mackle was optimistic of a busy Labour Weekend.
As fires broke out across the district on Tuesday evening, Mr Mackle was stuck in Wellington.
He had been in the capital since Sunday evening to attend the Mayors School for new and returning mayors run by Local Government New Zealand.
He planned to fly home on Tuesday evening, but flights were delayed due to the weather.
After a sleepless night, Mr Mackle finally boarded a plane to Blenheim at 6.30am the next day before making the drive home - not knowing what to expect.
Further south, the effects of yesterday's weather were being felt in Hanmer Springs, Culverden, Waiau and Cheviot.
Trees had been uprooted, centre pivots turned over, while roads were closed and power outages in rural areas were expected to continue over the weekend.
She said the Canterbury council chief executives had met on Wednesday and Hurunui chief executive Hamish Dobbie was ready to swear Mrs Black in as mayor.
‘‘I have the unique status of being re-elected unopposed, so he would have sworn me in to declare on behalf of the whole region.
‘‘But Minister Mitchell made the call to declare himself - and I’m happy he did.’’
Mrs Black is due to be sworn in on Thursday, October 30.
- By David Hill, Local Democracy Reporter
• LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air
