Mark Mitchell: Emergency Management Minister on the State of Emergency in the South Island

The Emergency Management Minister's praising authorities for their fast thinking in today's wild weather. 

A local State of Emergency remains in force for Nelson, Marlborough, and Tasman, where an orange heavy rain warning's been extended until 3pm. 

Another 40 millimetres is expected to fall. 

Mark Mitchell has been in Blenheim this morning, assisting Civil Defence. 

He told Matt Heath and Tyler Adams the affected councils made decisions early, and our first responders have been outstanding. 

Mitchell says people that needed to evacuate have done so, and everyone has been well-managed during the weather events. 

LISTEN ABOVE 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:09):
You're listening to a podcast from News Talk ZB Follow
this and our wide range of podcasts now on iHeartRadio.

Speaker 2 (00:16):
Minister for Emergency Management and Recovery Mark Mitchell, Mark, very
good afternoon to you.

Speaker 3 (00:23):
Good afternoon, hey, thank you for joining us. What are
the worst hit parts of the country? How well, I mean,
it's We've got a cane on in the country at
the moment. Obviously, Auckland's been hit with with winds and
thunderstorms and in a tornado obviously down here, I'm down
and blend him at the moment. And we've obviously got

(00:45):
heavy rainfall here and flooding, lots of surface flooding. Obviously,
the river's been monitored and the Spring Creek community has
been evacuated as a precaution because there is a stop
beak out there that is not that stable. And so
the all the councils are responding really well, obviously here
with the Maya, the Dean Taylor. I've spoken with Nick

(01:06):
Smith and Nelson and Tim Can and Tasman. They're evactivated
as well. The EOCS has stood up, but everyone is
taking decisions early, and our first responders are outstanding. The
response is really good. There's been people that people that
need to be evacuated have been evacuated, and everyone is
well prepared at managing from what I see right across
the country the weather events that we been hit with

(01:28):
at the moment.

Speaker 2 (01:29):
Are there any concerns over the next twelve hours for you,
Minister understand high tide there's some caution around that as
it starts to come through. Is that the main area
of concern now?

Speaker 3 (01:41):
Yeah, talking to Nick Smith earlier there, Nelson's sight tide
was at eleven o'clock. That's what they were watching. So
we've got through that and the initial inform all the
information I have most recently is that they're starting to
things look like they're starting to improve there. But of
course it's still raining here and you're going to have
water that's going to come out of the hills, and
it's trying to anticipate how much of that will arrive.

(02:03):
So look, that's with managing these events. It's our by
our arm obviously trying to use predictions and the information
coming through from our scientists and the met Service. But
the one thing that I would say is that the
response that I've seen is outstanding, that's been proactive as
they've gone early and everyone's highly organized. We're talking to

(02:26):
a Minister of Emergency Management Mark make sure what should
people do in the affected areas. Just make sure that
you keep checking the civil defense websites, stay out of
floodwaters because they're dangerous. You don't know what's in them.
And obviously cooperate and coordinate and be compliant with any
of our first responders and any of the things that

(02:47):
the council and first responders are trying to do around
public safety.

Speaker 2 (02:51):
And those messages as well. Minister, for anyone that has
been hit by flooding, they needed to get out of
their house, they're concerned about relatives checking on them, and
there are numbers and evacuation centers available for those people.

Speaker 3 (03:03):
That's right. Everyone's sort of keep in contact with each other,
use your phone networks, which teams are very good at doing.
On The police, for example out at Spring Creek, have
been very flexible in terms of how those checkpoints have
been run. They'll take people into their house, they need
to pick up a pedal, get something out to get

(03:24):
them back out again. So look from my perspective right
from the start, and I've been monitoring this from yesterday.
All the councils from the mayors down have been responsive,
they've been proactive. Everyone's well coordinated and it's a very
good response. Now you're down in Blenhim.

Speaker 2 (03:41):
Have you heard anything about this tornado in Auckland.

Speaker 3 (03:45):
Yes, I have. I've just got some initial information on
that and actually I will be traveling back to Auckland
this afternoon and get back on the ground where there
are some issues up there as well. Obviously I dealt
with the one on Munga Fi earlier in the year.
The tornadoes are very hard to predict. They just sort
of turn up. It's random, but of course they're capable
of causing quite a bit of havoc and chaos when

(04:06):
they do. So you know, I'll get more information when
i'll hit the ground up in Auckland.

Speaker 2 (04:11):
Yeah, Minister, thank you very much for having a catch
up with us and all the best down there.

Speaker 3 (04:17):
Yeah, thank you. Thanks soving us on that.

Speaker 2 (04:19):
Is emergency recovery, Minister Mark Mitchell.

Speaker 1 (04:23):
For more from News Talk sed B, listen live on
air or online, and keep our shows with you wherever
you go with our podcasts on iHeartRadio