Heavy rain and strong wind warnings in place for Kaipara

Tuesday 14 April

The Red Severe Weather Warning for Northland is now lifted. The worst of the storm has passed, and the forecast is westerly winds and showers for the next few days. 

MetService New Zealand has lifted Northland's Red Heavy Rain Warning. 

Last month, civil defence-trained KDC staff joined a region-wide exercise, simulating a tsunami scenario.

Over Labour Weekend, KDC staff were deployed to Invercargill. 

Kaipara District Council will begin hearings for the Proposed District Plan on Monday 25 August.

Dargaville residents were asked to urgently conserve water ahead of the Kings Birthday weekend, when reservoir levels started to drop due to a break along the town's raw water pipeline. The event prompted emergency repairs for this first and three subsequent leaks, round the clock water deliveries from Kaipara and neighbouring districts and a coordinated response.

Success! The last houses around upper Hokianga Road are now getting water, thanks to the dedicated work of the crews to get the booster pumps on Sunday.

Community members in Dargaville are being told to prepare for further surface flooding in the township over the next couple days. 

Replacement corridor for the Brynderwyn Hills section of State Highway 1, announced. 

Update Friday 18 April, 8:57am

At the 26 March 2025 council meeting, elected members approved the Proposed Kaipara District Plan, paving the way for it to proceed to public notification in late April.

The Ministry for the Environment (MfE) has confirmed it will contribute up to $435,000 to Kaipara District Council towards clean-up costs from the Mangawhai tornado.

The past few weeks have been tough for many in our community.

Over the weekend a team of Taskforce Kiwi deployed two field teams to support the Mangawhai tornado recovery.

A team from New Zealand Red Cross was on the streets of Mangawhai on Thursday and Friday visiting residents affected by Sunday’s tornado.

Residents can drop off tornado-damaged waste free of charge at the Hakaru Transfer Station this weekend - 1 and 2 February

Contractors are removing building debris and tornado damaged items piled on berms in the most affected areas of Mangawhai, as the cleanup from the tornado event continues. 

It’s been a rough couple of days for many in the Mangawhai community, and some may only be starting to feel the emotional impacts of Sunday’s tornado event now.

Kaipara Civil Defence Emergency Management continues to respond to the impacts of the Mangawhai tornado.

Kaipara District Council has agreed to incorporate Private Plan Change 83 (PPC83), Cove Road North Precinct (The Rise) into the Operative Kaipara District Plan.

A suite of recovery and resilience projects underway in Kaipara District is set to benefit from more than half a million dollars in central government funds.

Kaipara District Council has agreed to incorporate Private Plan Change 81 Trifecta Development Area (PPC81) into the Operative Kaipara District Plan.

Kaipara District Council adopted the recommendations of the Hearing Panel for Private Plan Change 84 Mangawhai Hills Development Area (PPC84) at its 28 August meeting.

Kaipara District Council activated their Emergency Operation Centre (EOC) as a precautionary measure yesterday, after a Transpower tower fell near Glorit and blanket power cuts rolled across most of Northland, with no initial confirmation of when they could end.

Additional residential land has opened up in Dargaville after Kaipara District Council gave final approval to a Plan Change request to rezone 39 hectares of rural land into residential land.

Kaipara District Council contractors Ventia have completed another significant road repair, this time in Maungaturoto.

A new online mapping tool developed by Northland’s three district councils shows the latest repair plans for the remaining slips still affecting district roads following severe weather events that hit the region during 2022-23.

Kaipara is set to benefit from $2.6 million recently announced by the Government to boost resilience and reduce the risk of major flood damage.

A new working party, made up of elected members, Kaipara District Council (KDC) staff and input from external expert advice has been appointed to work on the new Engineering Standards for the district.

A shortened Long Term Plan with a focus on recovery was approved by Kaipara District Council earlier this week.

Kaipara’s Proposed District Plan is on track to be notified in 2024.  

The ‘Trifecta Development Area’ planned on the outskirts of Dargaville moved to the next phase after Kaipara District Council accepted the recommendations of the Hearings Panel on 30 August 2023.

A new collaborative project has arisen from the aftermath of Cyclone Gabrielle, which aims to build Northland’s resilience to future adverse weather events by tackling the problem of fallen and at-risk trees.

Council staff and contractors have been working on solutions to repair or replace Devich Road bridge, which was damaged in the 24 February extreme weather event.

The Kaipara District Mayoral Relief Fund gave out a total of $532,443.94 to residents and ratepayers in the Kaipara district.

Kaipara District Council has introduced a working party to work with staff to finalise development of the Proposed District Plan.

A huge shoutout to the Paparoa Cyclone Response Fundraiser Committee for their generous donation towards the Kaipara District Mayoral Relief Fund.

February’s extreme weather events have impacted roads across Kaipara. Our roading network has suffered significant long-lasting damage, and many issues will not be a simple fix. 

A number of agencies are offering support for those affected by February's extreme weather events.

In the leadup to the reopening of the eastern Brynderwyns detour route (Kaiwaka/Mangawhai/Waipu), authorities have confirmed that restrictions will again apply to truck and trailer units.

If your home was damaged by Cyclone Gabrielle and you need support to find temporary accommodation, the Temporary Accommodation Service (TAS) can help you.

In a controlled opening, Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency will re-open SH1 at the Brynderwyn Hills for northbound vehicles only from 8am tomorrow morning (Wednesday 1 March).

Contractors working on the Lang’s Beach bridge on Cove Road have encountered further challenges, delaying the reopening of the bridge until Wednesday morning.

I am not sure anyone would have believed me had I said we would have to contend with another extreme weather event during the on-going aftermath of Cyclone Gabrielle.

Authorities in Northland are advising travellers to stay up-to-date and amend their plans if necessary as key local roads damaged in Friday’s heavy rain around Mangawhai and surrounding areas will remain closed until midweek and in some cases, longer.

Everyone has now left the overnight accommodation centres at Campbell Park Christian Camp, Moir Point Christian Camp and the community-led centre at St John's Hall in Kaiwaka.

UPDATED: 2.18PM Thursday 02 March 2023

Kaipara District continues to respond to the impacts of Cyclone Gabrielle.

Kaipara District Mayor Craig Jepson has established a Mayoral Relief Fund to help support those affected by Cyclone Gabrielle.

After February's extreme weather events, you or someone you know, may be feeling upset, exhausted, overwhelmed or uncertain. You don’t have to manage this on your own, there are free resources available to support you during this time.

A number of Kaipara homeowners have had their houses stickered in the aftermath of Cyclone Gabrielle.

Media release from Northland Civil Defence.

Yesterday I was able to witness first hand some of the hard work that has been happening across the district to recover from Cyclone Gabrielle.

Our Rapid Response teams made good ground yesterday, conducting welfare checks on our isolated and hard-to-reach Kaipara communities, many of which are still without power.

It’s a relief to see river levels dropping with the steady fine weather. There is still some flooding in areas around the Northern Wairoa, which we are still monitoring. We expect these to return to normal by Tuesday.

After having no occupants overnight we have closed the Civil Defence Evacuation Centre at the Holy Trinity Anglican Church and relocated the team to other areas of the response.

UPDATED: 2.17PM Thursday 02 March 2023

A number of our staff have been diverted to emergency services relating to Cyclone Gabrielle. Council services will continue but some with limited capacity so please be patient. We will continue to keep you updated.

You now have until Friday 03 March to dispose of flood-damaged green waste and items free of charge at Dargaville and Hakaru transfer stations. Both transfer stations are operating normal hours during this time.  

When you see the sun come out and the wind has dropped, it could be difficult to believe what we have experienced in the last few days.

In the early hours of this morning Awakino River on the northern outskirts of Dargaville breached its banks. 

It’s been a tough day, especially for parts of Dargaville, with Awakino River and some of Ruawai now being evacuated. By 7pm, high tide, we expect to have evacuated everyone from areas we think are vulnerable.

Now that the weather conditions have improved and we have passed the last couple of high tides we feel it is safe for those who have been evacuated to return home.

This article will be updated with information on Kaipara District Council services during Cyclone Gabrielle. 

A precautionary state of emergency has been declared for Northland as at 4.30pm Sunday 12 February, for an initial period of seven days, as part of the regional response to Cyclone Gabrielle.

Thank you to everyone who submitted feedback on the Exposure Draft District Plan. A summary of the feedback received is now available to view.

Kaipara District Council has approved the Exposure Draft District Plan for release, inviting the public to provide feedback. 

At the July Council Meeting, Kaipara District Council Elected Members unanimously accepted the Private Plan Change 81 (PPC81) request from the Dargaville Racing Club inc.

Kaipara District Council has completed the final step to adopt Private Plan Change 78 (PP78), which amends the planning rules that apply to the Mangawhai Central Development.

Elected members have voted to pause planned informal consultation on the Kaipara District Plan while they hold a further briefing on some topics.

The Environment Court has given the green light to Mangawhai Central’s Private Plan Change 78 (PPC 78) to the Kaipara District Plan.

‘A breath of fresh air’ is how one industry professional describes the Kaipara District Resource Consents team since the Council made substantial improvements to their resource consent service.

Kaipara communities are to have a say on whether the Norfolk Pines in Pahi should remain protected or whether they can be removed, as part of the District Plan review process.

The public feedback period for the Discussion Documents as part of our District Plan review process has closed.

A reminder to Have Your Say on our Discussion Documents, and some changes to our plans because of COVID-19.

As part of the District Plan Review, Discussion Documents are now out for comment.