Locals must think ahead and have sandbags ready prior to severe weather events, but Auckland Council’s Civil Defence and Emergency Management Committee has sunk a vote to provide them.
“A lot of people that know they have flooding issues need to educate themselves, get the bags and have them for the ready,” advises committee chair and Howick Ward Councillor, Sharon Stewart.
Although the committee voted against an option to provide sandbags to all they will still be issued if directed by an emergency authority.
John Cranfield from Auckland Emergency Management told the committee 190,000 sandbags were provided at three stations across the Super City during Cyclone Gabrielle last year.
“In the lead up to Cyclone Gabrielle, we did provide sandbags and we provided them at scale, [but] demand significantly exceeded the available supply. [This] resulted in a significant amount of resourcing, time, effort and cost expended on this work.”
Council will continue to protect public assets and perform due diligence around areas for which it is responsible, the committee concluded.
Original article courtesy of Laura Kvigstad, Auckland Council reporter, funded by NZ on Air
