West Coast council leaders say last weekend’s torrential downpour in South Westland underscores the urgent need to provide flood protection for Franz Josef and Westport.
And that involves bending the ear of the new line-up in Cabinet.
The region’s four councils put a combined proposal to the incoming National-led Government before Christmas setting out what they think the Coast needs in a hurry to protect people and property and shift its economy into high gear.
They’re still waiting for a summons to Wellington to put their case for the relevant ministers.
“It’s not all about money,” says West Coast Regional Council chair Peter Haddock.
“In some cases we just need decisions on enablers such as access to more land for mining.
“And the Waitaha hydro scheme that was turned down under Labour, if we could get the green light for that, could power 1200 homes.”
But other water-related problems will take money to fix and it can only come from the Government, Haddock says.
Disaster averted
“We saw last weekend how much of a threat the Waiho [Waiau] River is to Franz Josef and the people on the south bank.
“We dodged a disaster this time but we’re heading into flood season and next time could be disastrous.”
The major flood of March 2019 took out the Waiho bridge, trapped tourists for days and closed State Highway 6 for a month after nearly 1m of rain fell on Franz Josef over three days.
The previous government agreed to fund $12 million of flood wall improvements to the north bank to protect the town.
But it withheld another $8 million tagged to protect the south bank with its farms and airfield – as well as the bridge and highway – until councils could agree on a plan for its future.
Engineers and geologists have warned for years that the bed of the Waiho river will keep rising as the Franz Josef glacier retreats and huge amounts of gravel, sediment and rock tumble downstream.
And it’s already higher than the town itself.
“I worked at Franz years ago when they were building the THC hotel and I remember looking down from the bridge then and it was a huge drop – if you fell off you’d perish.”
Since those days the replacement bailey bridge has been lifted at least five times as the river bed rises, Haddock says.
“I think that’s why it blew out in 2019. The piles are so high they tend to get scoured out.”
Releasing the southern stop banks and letting the Waiho spill out onto its natural flood plain would take the pressure off the popular tourist town on northern side for 50 years, experts say.
Haddock says the council can now present the plan the last government asked for.
Ready to go
But there’s an expensive proviso.
“We’ve now got agreement from 75 percent of south-bank landowners to let the stop banks go if the Government will buy them out.
“It’s a 10-year strategy – you can’t do this overnight. In the meantime we need to keep those stop banks in place to protect lives and the highway so we need the Government to release the $8.7 million that was held back.”
The funds would cover the cost of maintaining the southern stop banks for the next few years, creating a detailed master plan and getting some serious emergency management in place, Haddock says.
“They have no early-warning system in Franz and they’re only a few kilometres from the action. A flood could come bursting out of the gorges before you know it.”
The 10-year strategy would also give the New Zealand Transport Agency time to design and build a new route for the southern highway, Haddock says.
“They’re already onto it. They’ve been waiting for the council to come up with a plan and now they’ve got it.”
Haddock estimates it would cost at least $40 million to buy out the south-bank landowners.
Whether a cash-strapped Government is willing to budget for that over 10 years to secure Franz Josef and the crucial road link to the south remains to be seen.
It would arguably be cheaper than the post-apocalypse alternative: by way of comparison, the Westport flood of July 2021 cost the government $100 million in emergency, clean-up, repair and rehousing costs.
Insurance companies shelled out another $100 million.
Haddock is hopeful the Government will stump up after briefing Emergency Management Minister Mark Mitchell who flew in last weekend to monitor the potential civil defence emergency at Franz Josef.
Water, water everywhere
Buller Mayor Jamie Cleine, who’s after $15 million for a new stormwater system for Westport, also has his fingers crossed.
The Labour government granted the Buller and regional councils $22.9 million last year for flood protection, including a ring of stop banks around Westport.
But without an amped-up drainage system and built-in storm pumps the town, encircled by flood walls, would be at risk of becoming a bathtub in a major flood.
“We were told the Three Waters entity would lend for the stormwater system but that option’s gone,” Cleine says.
“All the engineers are saying you can’t build this without the capacity to pump water out from inside.
“It’s integral to the design and if we don’t have clarity on who’s funding that they won’t be able to build the walls.”
The Buller mayor is also keen to talk drinking water with the new Government.
“If we have to do the full monty for all our little water supplies – treatment plants for everything with 200 users, for instance – we’d be bankrupt,” Cleine says.
“Either regulator Taumata Arowai has to lower its standards and expectations or the Government has to fund the work.
“We’re already looking at a rate rise in the mid-20s so we’ve parked the water-supply issue because our people simply can’t afford it.”
The Coast councils are hoping for an audience with the relevant Government ministers in coming weeks.
Made with the support of the Public Interest Journalism Fund
