Roadworks on the Thames Coromandel Road after flooding in 2018. Photo: RNZ / Cole Eastham-Farrelly
The Waikato region is set to receive $1 million in funding to enhance resilience against flood risks in the Coromandel Peninsula.
The money is part of a larger fund allocation for affected regions in the North Island, made available this year by the Labour government.
Waikato Regional Council would be receiving $708,000 towards river management, which included erosion protection works, the removal of obstructions and planting to stabilise banks.
The amount was considerably below the initial $3.3m applied by the council for the repairs.
Councillor Warren Maher said the council alone could not afford the amount of work required across the peninsula.
"The council is not in a position to fund the large-scale amount of work required across the peninsula in a short term.
"The cost is also something that our local ratepayers would struggle with considering the flood recovery impacts they're already experiencing, so this funding is a welcome boost to recovery activities."
Havoc caused by severe weather across the Coromandel was still very real, Maher said.
"Building stability and capacity into these river systems is a critical action needed to support improvements in roading, infrastructure, sediment reduction and flood mitigation in the mid to lower reaches of catchments."
Another $330,800 was also granted to the region to remediate damage to the Graham's Creek catchment flood scheme, in Tairua.
The scheme, completed in 2016, diverted flooding away from residential areas into a designated floodway across a floodplain and into the estuary.
It was designed to provide 50 to 100-year levels of protection to more than 800 residential properties in the region, but the constant state of soil saturation and significant stream flows brought damage to catchment structure.
Hauraki and Coromandel catchments manager Emily O'Donnell said the funding would help to relocate the catchment further downstream to reduce their vulnerability to similar damage and washout.
"It is important to note that, as it stands, the flood scheme is fully effective and the agreed level of protection to this community has not been compromised despite the damage," O'Donnell said.
"We'll be reviewing the design and construction of the scheme's structures to make sure they are more robust and stable under severe flood conditions, as well as being easy and cost effective to maintain."
