Rural communities to benefit from updated flood mapping
Waipā’s rural flood hazard mapping is now complete, giving Council and communities a clearer picture of how water is likely to pond during major weather rainfall events.
The new maps add to the urban flood mapping done between 2019 and 2021 and form part of Waipā District Council’s ongoing work to better understand and manage flood risks – especially as extreme weather events are becoming more frequent.
Waters strategic lead, Robin Walker, said the updated rural mapping is an important step in improving our understanding of stormwater effects in the rural areas.
“With climate change bringing more of these big weather events, it’s essential we understand where surface flooding might occur,” he said. “This mapping gives us the information we need to make smart decisions around planning rural stormwater drainage and how we manage future flood risk.”
The maps don’t cover private drains – unless they are clearly visible from Council’s aerial ground survey - and don’t include river flooding, which falls under the responsibility of the Waikato Regional Council.
Unlike the more detailed urban flood mapping, the rural mapping provides an indicative picture of where flooding might happen and is not suitable for detailed analysis of specific properties.
“It comes down to data. In rural areas, many culverts and drains are privately owned and not known to Council, so we rely on aerial surveys, land contours and the culverts we do know about,” Walker said.
“Now that we’ve mapped our rural areas, we can get a better sense of how the rural drainage network is performing.”
The information will now be included in all rural Land Information Memorandum (LIM) reports, and council’s online mapping service.
“We know that things can change, so until we are ready to do the next lot of mapping, we invite landowners to share any information – like changes to land drainage and private drains – that we can include in those updates,” Walker said.
How to access the Flood Viewer:
(a) Head to Waipā District Council’s website, www.waipadc.govt.nz.
(b) Click on ‘Maps online’
(c) Scroll down the page and choose either 'Urban' or 'Rural' Flood Hazard Maps
(c) Make your selection on the disclaimer to proceed.
