Weather warning work under way


Authorities are reviewing how they respond to large weather events following concerns raised by farmers over delayed warnings.

Environment Southland (ES) general manager operations Jonathan Streat said Sunday’s flooding in parts of Southland was "unusual", which made it difficult to predict.

"We are working with MetService to understand if some areas can be fine-tuned and improved to support warning systems that take into account factors other than rainfall, including ground saturation."

The comments were made after Southland farmers expressed frustration over the lack of warning from authorities, which left them ill-prepared.

Earlier this week, Agribusiness Consultants sheep and beef consultant Deane Carson, of Makarewa, told the Otago Daily Times farmers felt the weather event was "not well forecast" and called for better alert systems.

Because warnings were not issued as fast as they should have been, people felt they were dealing with it on their own and took unnecessary risks.

"Farmers were swimming to save their stock ... there were tractors having to bail out because the water got too deep."

Mr Streat said the recent flooding was localised, unlike the river flooding seen in February, and there were a lot of compounding factors, which made it hard to foresee the impact it would have.

"The flooding was not caused primarily by rivers but by the local accumulation of water and was complicated by the fact that the ground was already saturated, which meant water was pooling and unable to disperse."

Waters rise at Taramea Ba in Riverton on Sunday. PHOTO: ABBEY PALMER
Waters rise at Taramea Ba in Riverton on Sunday. PHOTO: ABBEY PALMER

During a weather event, MetService informs ES’ hydrology and catchment teams and Emergency Management Southland about any potential events that are "out of the ordinary", as well as any weather watch or warning it activates.

No rainfall warning was put in place because the rainfall levels did not meet the MetService thresholds.

Because the event was unexpected and localised and there were no weather warnings in place, it was difficult to see what more they could have done to inform farmers, Mr Streat said.

"We always endeavour to provide timely and effective warnings based on the best information we have available.

"We also encourage farmers to be vigilant and aware of weather events that may impact their properties or locality."

As much as it could, ES was taking a "pragmatic approach" to dealing with farmers’ concerns around consents or compliance after flooding.

Earlier this week, Emergency Management Southland controller Angus McKay told the Otago Daily Times communication between weather forecasters and flood response agencies needed to improve.

Meanwhile, the Southland District Council is still counting the cost of the flooding.

Senior staff member Hartley Hare said early figures suggested it would be about $80,000.

abbey.palmer@odt.co.nz

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