The new Civil Defence Minister, Kris Faafoi, wants better decisions made to ensure infrastructure is more resilient to extreme weather events after his first outing as minister to a storm affected region.
Flood-hit locals in Thames say there was a dangerous lack of communication during last week's storm.
Frustrated Te Puru residents put their concerns to the new Minister of Civil Defence yesterday when he paid them a visit.
It’s the second time in less than a year the residents have been forced to deal with flooding.
Mr Faafoi was told at a community meeting that there was "poor communication from your Civil Defence people".
"With our drowned houses, we needed power and water and we had neither," said Don Creswell, a Te Puru resident.
Te Puru residents were also frustrated by conflicting information about storm-hit roads, and there was confusion about the weather.
“Nature should not be left to take its course where people's homes are concerned
"There was no pre-warning of the event. It was that it was meant to be heavy rain, not a storm surge," said resident Steve Harris.
Residents were also angry that the power was turned off eight hours after the storm struck.
It’s the second time in less than a year the residents have been forced to deal with flooding.
Residents of Kaiaua are upset too, local Frank Gausen saying: "I believe distinctions in policy should be made for townships. Nature should not be left to take its course where people's homes are concerned."
The minister concedes some improvements are needed.
Mr Faafoi said weather events are "moving beasts", adding, "But I think if you speak to the community as a whole they're pretty happy with how things are at".
It's the third time the store has been flooded after yesterday's storm left a trail of destruction across the North Island.
But the region has also been hit by floods in 1997, 2002 and 2014.
The minister was asked yesterday how will officials respond with climate change expected to bring even more extreme weather events.
"I think we need to make sure that in the future we're making good decisions, not short-term decisions, around infrastructure to make sure it's much more resilient," he said.
Repairs to the Thames Coast Highway are forging ahead, but with many sections of the road expected to be one way for quite some time, motorists are being urged to take alternative routes.
An unwanted start to the new year for the region has brought weeks of disruption and days of cleaning up for residents.
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