Flooding

Flooding is the most common natural hazard in Aotearoa, with a major flood event occurring on average every eight months.

As the climate changes, communities across New Zealand need to adapt to meet the challenges of a rising sea level and more frequent, more significant rain events that may cause flooding.

As we have seen throughout history, the results of a significant flood event can be catastrophic. One of our core roles is to maintain and manage more than $400M worth of flood defence infrastructure in the rohe, to help minimise the flood risk to people, property and livelihoods.

Flood protection: What do we do?

• Upgrade flood defences (such as stopbanks, floodwalls, floodways and spillways).
• Routinely check the condition of the flood defences through condition and performance assessments.
• Regularly repair and maintain flood defences as part of our operations and maintenance work programme.
• Provide information and environmental data (such as rainfall, river levels and wave height) to our partners and the community so they can make informed decisions in preparation or in response to an event.

Find out more about Flood defences.

The Flood Room

Regional Council supports a range of agencies, from emergency services to local councils, during a flood event. 

We have a dedicated Flood Room that is specially designed to support the team’s emergency flood response.

The Flood Hub

Be prepared for a flood event. Through our Flood Hub you can access real-time data, sign up to alerts (if you live in low-lying areas), and access national advice and useful contacts.