Support for flood-hit communities

Firefighters helping flooded householders in Westport (photo credit Charles Bruning Photography)

Boots on the ground, drones in the air, wheels through the water – from Westport to Wellington, Christchurch to the Marlborough Sounds our people have been supporting communities respond to and recover from flooding over the last fortnight.

Firefighters evacuated householders and rescued stranded motorists. Within hours they were back to help lift sodden carpets and move spoiled furniture, pump water out of houses and retrieve abandoned vehicles.

In Renwick near Blenheim, the fire station was evacuated as a precaution along with much of the town. In Westport, many of the brigade continued to respond to calls while their own families were evacuated and some of their homes were flooded.

On Saturday 17th at the same time operations were ramping up across the West Coast, Nelson-Tasman and Marlborough, Wellington was hit by the same storm and our crews were called out across the region to deal with flooding, lifting roofs and falling trees.

USAR teams mobilised to Westport from Canterbury and the North Island to carry out rapid impact assessments. Fresh crews from brigades along the West Coast, Christchurch, Canterbury and Nelson rotated in and out of town to help with the clean-up, which is still underway with the state of emergency extended into its third week.

Here to help

The specialist drone team has been carrying out aerial reconnaissance of damaged infrastructure in the Buller District to support NIWA and the West Coast Regional Council.

Mike Yeates and Hamiora Taite launch their drone to inspect infrastructure damaged by the flood

Other Fire and Emergency personnel have been supporting the response to the category red storm from behind the scenes. Te Ihu’s RCC was fully activated for several days, NCC activated and we stationed a liaison officer in the national crisis management centre. The southern and central communications centres dealt with hundreds of calls.

Several Fire and Emergency personnel deployed with EMAT (the national Emergency Management Assistance Team) and took roles in the emergency operations centre for Buller Civil Defence. USAR provided logistical support to EMAT. Others were in liaison roles. And a fresh contingent of staff deployed to Westport on Friday.

From left: EMAT team member and volunteer firefighter Phill Mackay; drone team member Hamiora Taite; Southland AAM Scott Lindsay; civil defence controller Sean Judd and Canterbury AAM Mike Johns in the Emergency Operations Centre, Westport

We don’t do this work in isolation. The response to the storm has been a multi-agency operation and we have worked alongside civil defence, Police and St John, NZDF, Red Cross, response teams and hundreds of volunteers.

Thanks everyone for your efforts in support of our communities. Manaakitanga and Whanaungatanga in action!

Here is a selection of photos of our people in action over the last fortnight.

The Te Ihu RCC fully activated in support of the response.

 

Personnel from across the country supported the Westport operation in the Emergency Operations Centre, deploying as EMAT, USAR, taskforce members, liaison and more

 

Many householders needed help to dewater their homes before they could start cleaning out their sodden possessions.

 

West Coast PRFO Atila de Oliveira and Westport brigade CFO Alan Kennedy briefing the Prime Minister in the Westport EOC.