When two West Coast rivers flooded on the same day in 2019, the Waiho tore down a bridge and cut off local communities for 18 days, and the Fox eroded a landfill, exposing 135 tonnes of rubbish that contaminated beaches more than 100km away.
A flood on the Rangitata River during the same year severed road, rail and power connections along the east coast of the South Island and cut a 25km path to the sea through prime dairy country.
We shouldn’t be surprised when our rivers break their banks that’s just a river being a river. Current management practices in Aotearoa treat rivers as static, in the hope of making them more predictable.