[ad_1]
Christel Yardley/Stuff
Hauraki District mayor, Toby Adams told his district on Sunday that they were “out of sandbags” prior to Cyclone Gabrielle beating down on the country come Monday and Tuesday.
Pouring sand into an old meal or horse feed sack is what some in the Hauraki district were resorting to in order to protect their property at risk of a battering from Cyclone Gabrielle.
Hauraki Mayor Toby Adams broke the news on Sunday that they were “out of sandbags”.
Council had since been monitoring where the flooding would likely strike and distributing sandbags more cautiously rather than handing them out “free and lovely to everybody”.
“We ran out of sandbags probably within a couple of hours of that [facebook] post on Sunday,” Adams said.
READ MORE:
* ‘What happened to Sara?’ Search for missing Waikato mum restarts 20 years later
* Mums-to-be moved out of storm’s path as Coromandel prepares for Cyclone Gabrielle
* Small town spirit strong in Coromandel as region readies for Cyclone Gabrielle
* Coromandel extends state of emergency as Cyclone Gabrielle approaches
What Hauraki District Council had left in stock had been divided out to the most vulnerable parts of their district.
This included places like Kaiaua, a small coastal settlement north of Miranda and over the Firth from Thames which council felt was going to be “most affected by the sea surge” he said.
Breakfast
Meteorologist Chris Brandolino explained what the North Island can expect from Cyclone Gabrielle.
It was a low-lying area that was both close to the beach and sat at the foot of the Hunua ranges.
“I know there is a lot of people out there that have been organising their own sand and sandbags which is absolutely fantastic, farmers out there have got old meal or horse feed bags that could be utilised for sandbags,” Adams said.
“Everyone has been preparing for the worst and hoping for the best.”
Adams said other councils in the firing line of the storm may have been facing the same issue.
Thames-Coromandel District Council said they had “no sandbag shortage so far” but they had distributed 2000 sandbags in the Whitianga area alone.
They also had some in the community who were filling their own bags where needed.
“We are distributing the sandbags…we also have the army here in Whitianga who are helping with this.”
Adams wasn’t sure where the sandbags were purchased from, but council usually filled them themselves.
Much of the sandbags that HDC already had in stock had been there for quite a while staff said, and there wasn’t a one-stop shop where council could readily access more sandbags.
Supplied
“Anything that can hold sand in a shape” can be used as a make do sandbag, Mayor Toby Adams said. But the sandbags needed to be laid out correctly to stop the water.
“So they’re just a sack, and then we just get sand, and then they’re just filled, so they’re not pre-filled,” he said.
“We do still carry some [sandbags] in stock at council, but we need to make sure that those are going to places where it is really needed, and it could be that it’s the critical infrastructure of council that needs it first where we can protect thousands of homes rather than one or two.”
The best advice they could give to people was to move anything that could to be damaged by water, up higher if you are worried, he said.
But sandbags “weren’t going to save the world” if there was an overflow of rainfall and flooding.
“We don’t, at this stage, anticipate having any flooding issues, after Cyclone Hale our drainage networks are fully operational, pumps are running how they should, and we think we will get through this okay.
“We’re a resilient community and we’ll get through it.”
[ad_2]