Strong collaboration across Western Waikato during Cyclone Vaianu

We are pleased to confirm that the impacts of Cyclone Vaianu on 12 April across the Western Waikato districts of Ōtorohanga, Waipā and Waitomo were minor and localised.

The three district councils worked seamlessly together in a Western Waikato Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) in Te Awamutu, supporting our communities during the weather event.

The Centre, Te Whare Ᾱhuru, coordinated the local civil defence response in alignment with regional and national Civil Defence efforts. Controller Dave Simes said only a small number of issues were identified and managed. There was minor surface flooding and one isolated power outage. River levels remained below trigger thresholds.

Representatives from Police, Fire and Emergency New Zealand, The Lines Company and Waipā Networks were based at the Centre, working alongside council teams to support the response.

After the cyclone system moved away from the Western Waikato, our response activity moved to a monitoring level.

Dave says the safety and wellbeing of our communities always remains our top priority, and civil defence response is always a team effort. We acknowledge the strong collaboration among councils, iwi and hapū, contractors, emergency services, the Rural Support Trust, community groups, government agencies and many more organisations and people. We thank everyone involved for their continued support of our communities.

For the latest weather information at MetService.com/warnings.