Rain radar for Nelson Tasman
The Nelson Tasman region will get a long-sought rain radar to improve severe weather monitoring and provide earlier warnings.
On the banks of the Motueka River on Saturday, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said it was hoped the $5 million radar would be in place by the summer of 2026.
“It doesn’t stop the rain, but what it does do is help us direct the resources and better prepare, and give much more early warning notice,” he said.
Tasman District Council principal hydrologist Martin Doyle said the radar would allow them to give two to three hours of warning, and in some cases even more, to residents about to be flooded, giving them time to evacuate before roads were cut off.“Those few hours are actually critical, because it allows people to make those key decisions about whether they leave their homes, whether they raise their possessions up out of harm’s way, or move vehicles to higher ground where you know they’re not ruined, and also move livestock and pets and so on,” he explained.
The radar would fill the gaps between rain gauges – which could be 50km apart. In the case of the recent flooding, Doyle said hydrologists had no idea how much rain was falling in those gaps.
This was the case in the Upper Tadmor River, the Sherry River, and some of the tributaries of the Upper Motueka.
“There was a lot of rain falling in the headwaters of the Upper Tākaka that we were oblivious to,” Doyle said.
“You would never know unless you had a rain radar to show you where that’s happening.”
While he was pleased about the news, Doyle said he was aware that there was a lot of work to do in Tasman, and nationally, to put in place a flood prediction system the country deserved, given heavy rainfalls and ongoing flooding problems.
“What’s needed is not just a radar for Tasman,” he said.
“For the same amount of money they could have a very good system of coordinated flood modelling across all of New Zealand.”
Tasman mayor Tim King said he was “pleasantly surprised” by the announcement about the radar.
While it wasn’t a complete answer, it was a “massive upside” to have the technology in the region, which would help to save lives and give people time to evacuate.
A new radar will cost up to $5 million with operating costs of approximately $800,000 a year.
Associate Transport Minister James Meager confirmed the Crown’s existing MetService contract would be varied to immediately begin the procurement of the new radar for the region.
Regional leaders have been lobbying the Government for a rain radar for several years because the coverage from the Wellington-based MetService radar was hampered by the region’s topography and too far away to provide detailed localised information.
Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell said Nelson Tasman had experienced several high-impact flooding events in recent years, and the radar would give the region’s emergency managers greater ability to monitor rainfall and flooding risk during a severe weather event, reducing the risk of loss of life and property.
Mitchell said the Government had also committed to strengthening the emergency management system to ensure it was fit for purpose to manage significant, widespread emergencies.
Nelson mayor Nick Smith welcomed the Government’s decision. He said the Wellington radar was blocked by the Marlborough Sounds and Richmond Ranges and too far away to give good, localised readings.
“Our topography results in these rain events hammering different particular valleys each time and us not knowing until after the floods have hit,” he said.
“This has been the case with the May storm that hit central Nelson city, the June event that hit Tadmor and the July event that hit Wai-iti worst.”
With another front being signalled for the end of month, Luxon said they were “concerned and monitoring very closely”.
Asked as to whether the Cabinet would consider more funding for affected landowners and the Tasman District Council, Luxon said that was a “difficult conversation”.
“Right now, it’s about roads and it’s about flood protection,” he said.
“We need to see what assessment is then happening beyond that point in time, and, frankly, we haven’t been in a position to do that.”
The Government couldn’t keep bailing out property owners after each successive event, neither could local government, he said.
“The balance of risk of how that sits between central Government, local government, and the landowner themselves, is something that this country and many countries, frankly, around the world, are all wrestling with.”
Luxon spent time on Saturday visiting a blueberry orchard and beef farmers on Motueka River West Bank Rd.
As to river gravel, which has been a point of contention for many people affected by the floodwaters, Luxon said from the helicopter, a massive digger looked like a “Tonka toy” amongst all the gravel that was there.
“I think it’s about expectations a little bit, and I know that’s not what people want to hear.”
King said if it wasn’t possible for the government or the council to do that work, then landowners needed to be enabled to do the work themselves.
Work being done around Resource Management Act reform could help that work be done more efficiently than what they were working under at present, he said.
As to whether the Government would be providing long term support around managed retreat, Luxon said they were conversations they were “yet to have”.
One learning from the event was the issues around telecommunications, Luxon said.
“We should genuinely ask some quite searching questions as to why did it take so long to get communications restored, and we obviously need to have conversations with the telecommunications companies to see whether we can get that part of it done quicker and faster.”
Recovery manager Richard Kirby said the Tasman District Council was facing a large bill, and would like help.
It was asking for an extra financial assistance rate for the council’s roading network, which would cost $25 million to fix, while council’s river assets sustained $35 million to $40m of damage that it would be asking for assistance to help restore.
“We’re right at our limit in terms of our debt, and we need some some help to basically reduce that debt,” Kirby said.
By Warren Gable, Nelson Mail
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