[Dom]

Hi,

As you probably know, some areas of the UK have big flooding problems now. Seemingly its the ones that are built on flood plains.

Is flooding a problem in NZ ?

We are thinking of relocating to Wellington with the intention to buy but I thought about the floods over here and it made me wonder.

cheers

[nippa&pippa]

Just had very bad floods in north islands last week, around northlands, north of auckland etc...I leave to someone in north island to explain!

Here is news report:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10450688&ref=rss

[bartons]

I'm sure flooding occurs regularly in parts of NZ; just look at the recent floods in Northland and the state of emergency there.

Have a look at this:
http://www.mfe.govt.nz/issues/climate/about/impacts.html
http://www.mfe.govt.nz/issues/climate/resources/impact-map/index.html

With climate change the weather patterns in NZ are as likely to change as elsewhere in the world: wet places get wetter (for example there's more flooding on the Westcoast predicted, together with mudslides and avalanches), drier places will have more droughts. I don't know about Welington, but my guess it it'll get even windier :)

[Dom]

Just had very bad floods in north islands last week, around northlands, north of auckland etc...I leave to someone in north island to explain!

Here is news report:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10450688&ref=rss

OMG nightmare !
:uhoh

[james the mechanic]

I would have said in general no flooding is not a massive problem in NZ, but look at Hawke’s bay. http://www.stuff.co.nz/4130869a10.html

However in general I would have said that about the UK and look what just happened there.
So what do I know?

[dacamoba]

Hi,

We have just moved into a rental in Nelson and a taxi driver said to me "I'm surprised they built the houses on this piece of land considering it is a flood plain."

Maybe that information would have been more useful before we signed the tenancy agreement!

Anyway so far so good and Nelson isn't really a town with extreme weather.

[Nathan]

from:
http://www.teara.govt.nz/EarthSeaAndSky/NaturalHazardsAndDisasters/Floods/1/en

"Floods are the most frequent and costly natural disasters in New Zealand – between 1920 and 1983, the country experienced 935 damaging floods. The Insurance Council of New Zealand calculated that industry payments for flood damage between 1976 and 2004 averaged $17 million per year in 2004 dollars. But this covers just part of the actual cost – for example, government expenditure on civil defence responses during flood emergencies alone averages about $15 million per year over the same period."

[bartons]

Nathan, excellent link! Thanks!

[swissmissdesigner]

"Floods are the most frequent and costly natural disasters in New Zealand – between 1920 and 1983, the country experienced 935 damaging floods. The Insurance Council of New Zealand calculated that industry payments for flood damage between 1976 and 2004 averaged $17 million per year in 2004 dollars. But this covers just part of the actual cost – for example, government expenditure on civil defence responses during flood emergencies alone averages about $15 million per year over the same period."


Excellent post and is correct!
Floods frequently appearing problems in North Island especially in Northland.
Just remember how big the damage was in March!
I couldn't get through to Paihia and Russell area.
The roads where badly damaged.

[marcia]

Hmmmm I'mglad we are on a hill, even if the land is clay and its gets a bit waterlogged at times, hopefully we will be ok!!! :o

Couldn't believe hawkes bay on the TV last though, after they have had a drought for the last few months. Must be horrible, when we drove over the Manawatu river thsi morning it was the highest I've ever seen it, and its all the flood waters coming down from Napier. Pretty scary!

[Dom]

from:
http://www.teara.govt.nz/EarthSeaAndSky/NaturalHazardsAndDisasters/Floods/1/en


What a cool website !

Got our "Selected" EOI today !:clap

[IanW99]

Congratulations on being selected

:raebanana :raebanana :raebanana

If you do decide to move to the Wellington region then I would watch out for Landslides more than floods as most of the houses are on the side of hills.

Ian