Clare St Pierre
I love Waipā and representing Pirongia-Kakepuku Ward. I was also a Mayoral candidate for the 2025 election. Authorised: Clare St Pierre, Pirongia: clare.stpierre@gmail.com
I've been advised that a pre-emptive Waikato regionwide State of Emergency has now been declared by the Group Joint Committee Chair across the Waikato CDEM Group area as Cyclone Vaianu approaches. Below is from our Waipā Civil Defence Local Controller, Wayne Allan:
From a Waipā perspective, we are treating this as an elevated readiness step so we can act quickly if conditions worsen, particularly given known landslip risks across parts of the district and already saturated ground conditions.
As a reminder, the MetService warnings issued yesterday remain in place for our area, including an Orange Strong Wind Warning and a Yellow Heavy Rain Watch, indicating the potential for hazardous winds and periods of heavy rainfall across the wider region.
Current situation and Waipā readiness actions:
We have proactively reached out to vulnerable communities and known at-risk locations to ensure they are aware of the forecast and know how to seek support if needed.
Pirongia Forest has been pre-emptively closed as a safety precaution due to expected heavy rain and associated risks, including slips and falling trees.
Forecast information indicates Mt Pirongia is likely to receive heavy rain from around 6am through to midday tomorrow, increasing the risk of localised flooding and land instability.
We need to be vigilant about landslip risk across the district, particularly in areas affected by recent weather events. Further public messaging on this will follow later today.
We are standing up our Emergency Operations Centre today so it is ready to be operational tomorrow. The EOC will operate as Te Whare Āhuru ō Waipā.
We are also identifying and preparing Civil Defence Centres across the district that can be opened if required. We will confirm locations and contact details as soon as we are able.
While there is now a Waikato regionwide State of Emergency in place, the response remains locally led, regionally co-ordinated and nationally supported. Waipā decisions will continue to be made based on local conditions and community impacts.
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It was Te Pahu's turn for a shout-out given all they've been through with the February extreme weather event. Waipā District Council put on a pizza night at the Squash Courts on Thursday, and what a great turn out! Mayor Mike was there, along with Recovery Manager Sally Sheedy and Community Adviser Gina Scott. This was a chance to give it up to the Te Pahu community for the outstanding way they'd pulled together and looked after each other during the emergency. The staunch work of other parties to help return things as close to normal as possible was also acknowledged, especially Waikato Regional Council staff, Downers, other contractors and Waipā District Council roading and waters staff. So proud that this community is part of my Pirongia-Kakepuku Ward and for showing just what rural communities are made of in Waipā. Kia kaha!
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We had a pizza night for the Whatauri Rd residents who were cut off for 7 days when their bridge washed out in the February extreme weather event. Downers came up with the temporary bridge solution of repurposed railway carriage bases and the residents were very happy with it. There's still a long way to go before a permanent replacement will be in place, but sharing pizzas was just a small acknowledgement from the Mayor, councillors and staff of what these residents had been through 😀
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Videos
Introductory short video on Clare St Pierre’s background.
Te Awamutu priorities and vision
Longer interview of Clare St Pierre by Andrew Johnstone for FreeFM