23 April 2024
Today, the Minister for Emergency Management and Recovery, Hon Mark Mitchell, has publicly released the report detailing the findings of the Government Inquiry into the North Island Severe Weather Events of early 2023.
This Inquiry covers Cyclone Hale (8-12 January 2023); heavy rainfall in the Northland, Auckland, Waikato, and Bay of Plenty regions (26 January – 3 February 2023); and Cyclone Gabrielle (12-16 February 2023).
These severe weather events that impacted the North Island in January and February 2023 led to 15 deaths and widespread, significant damage including property loss, road closures, collapsed bridges, damaged power and communication infrastructure, and loss of livelihoods.
Communities across the Waikato region were amongst those severely impacted, particularly in the Waikato, Western Waikato, and Thames Coromandel Districts.
"We welcome the Government Inquiry into the North Island Severe Weather Events," says Waikato Civil Defence Emergency Management Joint Committee Chair, Cr Anna Park.
"Every emergency provides us with important lessons and the opportunity to make improvements to our structures, systems, and processes".
The Waikato Civil Defence Emergency Management Group has also undertaken our own review into our response to these events, conducted by an external provider. This was delivered to us late 2023. We have accepted all recommendations and are working to include these in our work programme; many of which align with other reviews nationally.
While these reviews and reports are released, there are communities who are still in active recovery from these events. There have been some amazing stories of resilience and communities working together on local initiatives. Some projects still have a long way to go and will carry on for months or years. We will continue to support locally driven recovery efforts as they continue.
It can be difficult when these kinds of inquiries and reports are released. Reflecting on emergencies can be overwhelming and cause old feelings to come up – this is completely normal. If you need to talk, call or text 1737 for free and confidential support.
You can find the full report on the Beehive website.