James Thompson: Canterbury Civil Defence Controller updates the region ahead of damaging storm

Canterbury Civil Defence Controller James Thompson joined John MacDonald on Canterbury Mornings with the latest information we need to know ahead of today's expected damaging wind storm.

The region is under a red wind warning locally, along with parts of the Southern North Island.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Canterbury Mornings podcast with John McDonald
from News Talks B.

Speaker 2 (00:12):
James Thompson is the incident controller with Civil Defense Morning.

Speaker 3 (00:15):
James, Good morning.

Speaker 2 (00:17):
Anything happening so far unexpectedly?

Speaker 3 (00:23):
Yeah, we've seen some quite large power outages already. One
of the one of the main feeders going to the
top of the South Islands actually failed, so we know
there's power outages and Nelson Tasman as well as local
lots of local outages being seen across the Canterbury region.
So we're seeing impacts and we've had a number of

(00:45):
trees and trees by over on some of the state
highways in local roads as well.

Speaker 2 (00:51):
Where about are they.

Speaker 3 (00:53):
So Arthur's Pass is there in the process or ns
Tier in the process of closing Arthur's Pass. Lewis Pass
is still closed and you know we will see more
closures through the day. So you know, the messaging of
you know, avoiding non essential travel is really important. You know, please,

(01:15):
you know, please do do reduce for travel because it
is going to be closures are going to happen and
it's going to be tricky out there. Right.

Speaker 2 (01:25):
The Minister when we spoke to him about half an
hour ago. Wasn't sure when the state of emergency might
be lifted. What are the factors you need to consider,
all the boxes you need to tick for that toy.

Speaker 3 (01:36):
So for us, it will be you know, after the
winds have died down and we've managed any life safety issues,
and in particularly we'll be looking at the restoration of
the power and Kelly communications systems. I don't imagine it
staying in the state of emergency for a long period

(01:58):
of time, but you know that they have all all
depend on how significant the winds end up being.

Speaker 2 (02:03):
So we've got a cannabiy audience here, a greater christ
Church and and sort of beyond that on the fringes
of that, where are the power outages happening closest to
the Great Christich area?

Speaker 3 (02:13):
Oh so mostly in the main Power area, so sort
of that culvid In area North Canterbury and then you
know it's it's closer to the foothills rather than closer
to the coast. But at one stage the whole of
Main Powers or almost the whole of Main Powers grid
went down, but due to the due to the transpower outage,

(02:37):
but a lot of that's back out, so It's going
to be very dynamic as far as power goes. It's
going to come and go in but we do expect
there will end up being some quite long outages as
the power companies repair wind damage power lines.

Speaker 2 (02:53):
All Right, hey, James, appreciate you, so I'm all the
very best for today.

Speaker 3 (02:57):
All right, thank you.

Speaker 2 (02:57):
Brilliant that James Thompson who was the incident or the
controller of the response today Today.

Speaker 1 (03:06):
More from Caterbory Mornings with John McDonald. Listen live to
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