Auckland Weather 27/01/23 and Cyclone Gabrielle

Forums › Off topic › Auckland Weather 27/01/23 and Cyclone Gabrielle

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#3038119 17-Feb-2023 11:34

richms:

neb: During a discussion today the Wairau Valley substation and grid exit point came up, that's this one (you need to use satellite view to see the layout). This is built in what's probably the single most flood-prone portion of the Wairau Valley, at the intersection of two large culverts that don't handle rainfall too well, in particular the one that runs along the left in the image tends to flood as soon as there's heavy rain, not just the recent events. I was actually surprised we didn't lose power for an extended period because the GXP was under water, and it turns out we only just avoided it. Anyone know why they'd put a substation/GXP in probably the worst flood-risk location in the valley, and one that actually flooded while it was being built just in case they hadn't noticed before then?

Because the land was cheap and nothing else was on it because it flooded. Just like why they put a supermarket and bunnings there. Those drainage ditches beside the road are all they put in to try to drain a floodplane inorder to build on it.

A few years back in Te Awakairangi they built a substation on the the river side of the stop bank of the untamed river. Surprisingly the substation was flooded.

PolicyGuy

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#3038136 17-Feb-2023 12:42

maoriboy

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#3038154 17-Feb-2023 13:45

Gisbornes back up water supply option has now failed and an alert has been issued to stop using water immediately. HMNZS Manawanui can supply 15,000l of water per day but that's nowhere near enough. Things are pretty dire there currently.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/gisborne/131258692/major-crisis-gisborne-residents-urgently-told-to-stop-using-water

Reanalyse

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#3038344 17-Feb-2023 20:27

One of our neighbors works with Urban Search and Rescue, and was as at the Murawai tragedy.

All the people, those impacted and those helping, may carry mental scars for the rest of their lives from this.

And then there is this . How can the people who take such advantage sleep at night.

MadEngineer

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#3038346 17-Feb-2023 20:45

A lot of people will be running on the fumes of adrenaline at the moment and will take some time for them to fully grasp their own situation. If you know of anyone like that keep up the support even if they tell you they're OK.

You're not on Atlantis anymore, Duncan Idaho.

tdgeek

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#3038347 17-Feb-2023 20:46

Reanalyse:

One of our neighbors works with Urban Search and Rescue, and was as at the Murawai tragedy.

All the people, those impacted and those helping, may carry mental scars for the rest of their lives from this.

And then there is this . How can the people who take such advantage sleep at night.

In the EQ's down here there were pr1cks like that. Whether it be looting empty homes or stealing gas bottles from homes with no power. They were arrested, placed in custody, but hey we are busy now, it was circa 2 months or so before they appeared in court. Smallish crime with huge callousness. Thats what needs to happen there, and there has been looting already. Kicking people when they are down. Id go as far as name and shame but there is probably 14 legal reasons why they cannot.

neb

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#3038348 17-Feb-2023 20:56

Reanalyse:
And then there is this . How can the people who take such advantage sleep at night.

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Zigg

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#3038372 17-Feb-2023 22:37

Over 2mil raised so far https://givealittle.co.nz/cause/cyclone-gabrielle-community-support

MadEngineer

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#3038373 17-Feb-2023 22:41

Reanalyse:

One of our neighbors works with Urban Search and Rescue, and was as at the Murawai tragedy.

All the people, those impacted and those helping, may carry mental scars for the rest of their lives from this.

And then there is this . How can the people who take such advantage sleep at night.

Similarly this. The telcos have been making amazing progress to try and get their services restored with priority to emergency and other extra-critical services. The number of generators that have been deployed are a precious limited few and to have them stolen beggars belief.

You're not on Atlantis anymore, Duncan Idaho.

Lastman

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#3038392 18-Feb-2023 02:48

Couple of things about HB floods. This is about my first connectivity(2am=2 bars yah) since Tues as we have been without power or phone/cell/internet since then.

Obviously the failure of the substation greatly exacerbated the situation. Crazy not to have fixed that. It has been known as a key vulnerability for eons.

Second, surprised at complete failure of cellular system. Cell system stopped at same time as power. No back up of any kind. How could people needing rescuing seek help? Only cell coverage is where power back on except I think some cell back on in Napier. No generators in storage or anything to bring limited coverage back on without power.

JarrodM

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#3038400 18-Feb-2023 07:16

I live in Te Awa which you may have seen was under evacuation, fortunately for most around here the floodwater did not make it inside many properties just converting the roads.

Just up the end of the road however is another story. There was so much water, never seen anything so much and I look out at the ocean each day...

Re communication we have had cell reception throughout but mostly just able to send texts, phone calls were marginal. Data comes in and out only appears to work when connected to 4G with at least two bars of reception.

Most of our news came from the radio, but the radio keeps telling people to check different websites which were/are inaccessible to the majority of affected.

However the sun has come up this morning, and power is being restored. It’s on at my friend’s house down the road so hopefully at my place soon.

I have at least two friends who have lost nearly everything except the clothes off their backs, and hearing stories I would not be surprised if this is the deadliest natural disaster in our history.

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#3038403 18-Feb-2023 07:45

JarrodM: ………I would not be surprised if this is the deadliest natural disaster in our history.

I really hope you are wrong. A quick search of “NZ Natural Disasters” provided the following stats (abridged);

1918 Flu epidemic. 8600 fatalities,

2020+ Covid19 2030+ fatalities,

1931 Napier/Hastings Earthquake 256 fatalities,

1863 Central Otago Floods 200 fatalities,

2011 Canterbury Earthquake. 185 fatalities,

1886 Mount Tarawera Eruption 153 fatalities,

1953 Tangiwai Rail Disaster. 151 fatalities,

The list goes on but there are a surprising number of weather related events going quite a long way back, including floods and landslides wiping out homes and transport infrastructure. Even discounting the health ones at the top, we obviously haven’t learnt much from history.

“We’ve arranged a society based on science and technology, in which nobody understands anything about science technology. Carl Sagan 1996

quickymart

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#3038416 18-Feb-2023 08:50

Lastman:

Couple of things about HB floods. This is about my first connectivity(2am=2 bars yah) since Tues as we have been without power or phone/cell/internet since then.

Obviously the failure of the substation greatly exacerbated the situation. Crazy not to have fixed that. It has been known as a key vulnerability for eons.

Second, surprised at complete failure of cellular system. Cell system stopped at same time as power. No back up of any kind. How could people needing rescuing seek help? Only cell coverage is where power back on except I think some cell back on in Napier. No generators in storage or anything to bring limited coverage back on without power.

https://www.newsroom.co.nz/napier-is-an-island

"It’s really weird being in Hastings as it feels so different to the plight of people in Napier - shops here are open, cars getting their petrol at Z, I saw people getting their Macca's in Havelock! It’s crazy, compared to 20km down the road where it’s a war zone," said Nick Fitness who took his family there yesterday to check on his in-laws and got stuck there.

Is this really the case? Life goes on as normal in Hastings, while Napier is totally devastated? I just find that odd - the two places are only 20 kms apart, and it's not like there's a mountain range separating them.

How did Napier get so hammered while Hastings appears to have escaped (relatively) unscathed?

networkn

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#3038418 18-Feb-2023 08:55

Dingbatt:

The list goes on but there are a surprising number of weather related events going quite a long way back, including floods and landslides wiping out homes and transport infrastructure. Even discounting the health ones at the top, we obviously haven’t learnt much from history.

I am not sure what happened with Gabrielle is largely or even significantly avoidable. Some deaths may have been, but as the climate changes, where a significant quantity of water ends up changes. It's somewhat unlikely, unless we become nomadic, we are going to be able to move quickly enough and even predict where this would happen next. We can somewhat predict, and for sure some of this was avoidable, but really, when it comes down to it, sometimes, sh*t happens.

allan

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#3038423 18-Feb-2023 09:10

quickymart:

https://www.newsroom.co.nz/napier-is-an-island

"It’s really weird being in Hastings as it feels so different to the plight of people in Napier - shops here are open, cars getting their petrol at Z, I saw people getting their Macca's in Havelock! It’s crazy, compared to 20km down the road where it’s a war zone," said Nick Fitness who took his family there yesterday to check on his in-laws and got stuck there.

Is this really the case? Life goes on as normal in Hastings, while Napier is totally devastated? I just find that odd - the two places are only 20 kms apart, and it's not like there's a mountain range separating them.

How did Napier get so hammered while Hastings appears to have escaped (relatively) unscathed?

I suspect that part of that answer is the fact that pre-1931 earthquake, a lot of the area around the Napier foreshore was very low-lying and boggy and while there was a significant uplift as a result of the earthquake, it has remained quite low-lying.

Some interesting photos at https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/4579/ahuriri-lagoon-after-the-earthquake

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