Picking up the Pieces after The Far north’s floods
The Far North was deluged by a month’s worth of rain in less than 12 hours on 10 July, leaving many homes flooded or without power.
Right image: 3 Squadron Iroquois lands in a remote area cut off by flooding.
The New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) made a tri-Service response as it despatched four Unimog trucks, a P-3K Orion aircraft, two Iroquois helicopters and a Seasprite helicopter to assist with the civil defence effort.
Regular and territorial force personnel were put on standby and a Seasprite helicopter and an Iroquois helicopter were also on standby to assist with reconnaissance and damage assessment efforts.
The Unimog trucks carried supplies and assisted by transporting stranded people out of areas unreachable by other vehicles.
The P-3K Orion surveyed the damage and relayed the information back to rescue teams on the ground.
Civil defence efforts were co-ordinated by the National Crisis Management Centre in Wellington.
FLTLT Paul Smillie, a Crewman aboard the Iroquois, captained by FLTLT Tim Costley says: ‘The first aircraft was on a task in Auckland on Monday 9 July and Tuesday 10 July. It was redirected to Northland on the Wednesday and was joined by a second aircraft on Thursday. Both returned to Ohakea on the afternoon of Friday 13 July.
Left image: 3 Squadron Iroquois crewman carries supplies to a home cut off by severe weather.
‘The Iroquois effort involved approximately 20 personnel including aircrew, maintenance, a medic and a refueller. SQNLDR Pritchard from PTSU was appointed Air Liaison Officer (ALO) for the task and worked with the Civil Defence HQ at the council offices. We stayed in Northland on Wednesday (Whangarei) and Thursday (Keri Keri) nights. The flights involved transporting bottled water from Whangarei to Kiakohe and Kiao, food from Keri Keri to Kiao, reconnaissance flights for Civil Defence personnel and transporting the Kiao policeman and some food and water around his beat to check on some of the isolated households that he hadn’t heard from.
While the floods didn’t necessitate physical rescue by helicopter FLTLT Smillie says they weren’t taking any chances.
‘The people we visited seemed to be faring well but we did drop our medic in on an old lady who had just been released from hospital and could not be contacted. She was found sitting on her porch having a smoke wondering what the fuss was about. ‘Over two days the two aircrafts made approximately 10 flights between them. ‘Everyone worked well together and it was a good chance for the medic, CPL Claire Beauvais, to work with No.3 Squadron after graduating from a SAR Medic course the previous day. The biggest hurdles during the task were prioritising work with Civil Defence and making the most of the helicopters. This is common when working with civil agencies and was the reason for having an ALO present.’
Download video of P-3K Orion aerial survey of flood damage in the Far North