A partly-submerged car outside flooded houses on Disraeli St, Westport.
Photo: Supplied/NZ Defence Force
The one-in-100-year flood forced 2000 people - half the town - to evacuate and many could be homeless for months, as they wait for houses to be stripped, dried out and repaired.
The township was effectively cut off as an island between a 12m flood in the mighty Buller River and raging floodwaters in the usually placid Orowaiti River.
Birchfield said the regional council proposed setting up a rating district for Westport four years ago to pay for river protection and other work that would mitigate the flood risk to homes and property.
The new SNA map captures 95 per cent of all private land on the West Coast, according to Westland Mayor Bruce Smith. It also includes DOC stewardship land, which will skew the independent evaluation of that land that s supposed to be getting under way, Smith told the meeting. We are now up to 91.5 per cent of Westland controlled by DOC or other protection . we should not receive this report - it takes away property rights without consent.
Māori TV
Tāmati Tiananga of Te Ao Mārama speaks with Kuia Hine Puru, daughter of the famous mana wahine, and kuia from Te Tai Tokerau, Māori rights activist Dame Whina Cooper.